The Japan Times - Trump says 'no guarantees' Gaza truce will hold ahead of Netanyahu visit

Netanyahu was in Washington for talks with the new Trump administration on a second phase of the truce with Hamas, which has not yet been finalised.

Just over two weeks after the ceasefire took hold, two Hamas officials said the group was ready to begin talks on the details of a second phase, which could help secure a lasting cessation of violence.

Before leaving Israel, Netanyahu told reporters he would discuss "victory over Hamas", countering Iran and freeing all hostages when he meets Trump on Tuesday.

It will be Trump's first meeting with a foreign leader since returning to the White House in January, a prioritisation Netanyahu said showed "the strength of the Israeli-American alliance".

With fragile ceasefires holding in both Gaza and Lebanon -- where an Israeli campaign badly weakened Iran-backed Hezbollah -- Israel has turned its focus to the occupied West Bank and an operation that it says is aimed at rooting out extremism that has killed dozens.

Trump, who has claimed credit for sealing the ceasefire deal after 15 months of war, said Sunday negotiations with Israel and other countries in the Middle East were "progressing".

The president later told reporters that he has "no guarantees that the peace is going to hold".

Netanyahu's office said he would begin discussions with Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff on Monday over terms for the second phase of the Gaza truce.

Witkoff said he was "certainly hopeful" that the truce will hold.

The next stage is expected to cover the release of the remaining captives and could lead to a more permanent end to the war.

One Hamas official, speaking to AFP on condition on anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks, said the Palestinian group "has informed the mediators... that we are ready to start the negotiations for the second phase".

A second official said Hamas was "waiting for the mediators to initiate the next round".

The Washington discussions are also expected to cover normalisation efforts between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which Riyadh froze early in the Gaza war.

- 'Return to their land' -

Under the Gaza ceasefire's first, 42-day phase, Hamas is to free 33 hostages in staggered releases in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

Four hostage-prisoner exchanges have already taken place, and the truce has led to a surge of food, fuel, medical and other aid into rubble-strewn Gaza.

It has also allowed displaced Gazans to return to the territory's north, which Israel had blocked before. According to UN humanitarian office OCHA, more than 545,000 people have reached the north since the truce began.

During Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack, militants took 251 hostages, 91 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military has confirmed are dead.

The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel's retaliatory response has killed at least 47,498 people in Gaza, a majority civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, figures which the UN considers reliable.

While Trump's predecessor Joe Biden sustained Washington's military and diplomatic backing of Israel, he also criticised the mounting death toll and aid restrictions.

Back in office, Trump moved quickly to lift sanctions on Israeli settlers accused of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and reportedly approved a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs that the Biden administration had blocked.

Trump has also repeatedly touted a plan to "clean out" Gaza, calling for Palestinians to move to neighbouring countries such as Egypt or Jordan.

Qatar, which jointly mediated the ceasefire along with the United States and Egypt, underscored the importance of allowing Palestinians to "return to their homes and land".

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, meanwhile, warned Monday that relocating Gazans "would be tantamount to ethnic cleansing".

- Jenin operation -

In the West Bank -- which is separated from the Gaza Strip by Israeli territory -- Israel said it had killed at least 50 militants and detained more than 100 "wanted individuals" in an operation that began on January 21.

Israel's military says the offensive is aimed at rooting out Palestinian armed groups from the Jenin area, where militants have long operated.

On Sunday, Palestinian official news agency WAFA said Israeli forces "simultaneously detonated about 20 buildings" in the Jenin refugee camp.

In a statement, spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said the Palestinian presidency "condemned the occupation authorities' expansion of their comprehensive war on our Palestinian people in the West Bank to implement their plans aimed at displacing citizens and ethnic cleansing".

T.Kobayashi--JT