The meeting comes while the talks on the second phase of the truce are due, the American president saying that there is no guarantee that peace will hold.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should meet US President Donald Trump with the agenda to focus on the war interrupted in Gaza, as well as Iran.
The two leaders must meet in the early afternoon on Tuesday, sources told press agencies. The meeting takes place while indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas supported by Iran during the second phase of the fragile cease-fire agreement of Gaza are due.
Before the meeting, Trump said that discussions with Israel and other Middle East countries “progressed” but had offered no details.
The American chief admitted, however, that the ceasefire was uncertain. “I have no guarantee that peace will hold,” he told journalists.
His Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who met the Israeli chief on Monday, added: “We certainly hope.”
Netanyahu’s office announced on Tuesday that an Israeli negotiation team is preparing to go to Qatar this weekend for talks during the second phase. The team will discuss “technical details related to the continuation of the agreement” of the agreement, he said in a statement.
Pressure
Trump claimed the credit for the ceasefire agreement, which was signed before taking office on January 20.
During the first phase, Hamas released 18 captives; Israel has arrested his assault on the enclave and released from the hundreds of imprisoned Palestinians.
But the situation remains tense. Netanyahu is pushed by far -right partners of the Israeli government to take up the fighting.
Meanwhile, he is likely to deal with Trump’s pressure to hold fire. While the American president is a fervent supporter of Israel, the cease-fire agreement is also part of a larger regional strategy.
Trump and Netanyahu both said they are aiming to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia and draw these regional arrangements to help create a rampart against Iran.
However, Netanyahu’s unshakable opposition – who declared on the eve of the trip he hopes that the meeting will help to restart the region more – to any movement to a Palestinian state is a potential obstacle.
The Saudis declared that they would only accept to participate if the war in Gaza ended and that there is a credible path to a Palestinian state in Gaza and in the West Bank.
Trump has already shown an increase in support for Israel, restarting bombs supplies of 2,000 pounds and suggesting that Palestinians should be moved from Gaza to neighboring countries such as Egypt and Jordan. But Iran will be raised in its agenda.
During his first mandate, Trump carried out an approach to the hard ball in Tehran, drawing an international nuclear agreement.
Trump could “have little patience for Netanyahu’s political misfortunes if it bothers the wider objectives of this administration,” said Mira Resnick, former assistant state assistant secretary for Israeli and Palestinian affairs.
“The president began his mandate by saying that he wanted the ceasefire to be in place by January 20. This is what he had,” said Resnick. “He is invested in this area because he was able to assign the merit.”
