🔗 Share this article

Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that the initial stage of the United Nations-backed Gaza halt in hostilities plan is approaching conclusion, adding that the second stage must require the demilitarization of Hamas.

Upcoming Talks in Washington

The Israeli prime minister stated he would discuss the following stages in late November in Washington with Donald Trump, whose Gaza plans were formalized in a UN Security Council resolution on 17 November.

“We are nearing conclude the first stage,” Netanyahu remarked. “But we have to make sure that we achieve the equivalent results in the second phase, and that’s something I look forward to addressing with President Trump.”

German Chancellor Visits Netanyahu

The prime minister was addressing the media at a shared press conference with the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, who commented: “Phase two must come now and then phase three must also be considered.”

Merz is the first head of state of a leading European state to confer with Netanyahu in Israel since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, in November last year for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

After winning federal elections in February, Merz had indicated he would invite Netanyahu to Germany notwithstanding the ICC warrants, but said on Sunday a trip was not at this time under consideration. Netanyahu rejects the warrants as “trumped-up charges” from a “corrupt prosecutor”.

Details of the Ongoing Truce

Under the first phase of the present ceasefire agreement, Hamas released the final 20 surviving Israeli hostages in exchange for some 2,000 Palestinian detainees held by Israel, and it has transferred all but one of 28 bodies of hostages who died during the war. At the same time, Israeli forces have withdrawn to a ceasefire line, resulting in them in occupation of 58% of the Gaza Strip.

Since the ceasefire was put into effect on 10 October, Israeli forces have been responsible for the deaths of more than 360 Palestinians, including an approximate 70 children. Three Israeli soldiers have been fatally wounded in Hamas attacks over the identical period.

Future Stages and Ambiguous Timeline

Not one of Trump’s suggestions, nor UN security council resolution 2803 which mostly endorsed them, set out a timetable extending the ceasefire into a permanent peace. Hamas is required to disarm, Israeli troops are scheduled to withdraw farther, and an international stabilisation force (ISF) is to be set up under the control of a “peace board” of world leaders led by Trump, supervising a technocratic Palestinian committee to run day-to-day governance of Gaza.

The order of these measures is vague in Trump’s proposals or in resolution 2803. In his comments on Sunday, Netanyahu stressed Hamas disarmament.

“I think it’s crucial to make sure that Hamas adheres not only with the ceasefire, but also with their obligation which they undertook to disarm and have Gaza demilitarized,” he stated.

Possible Alternatives and Political Positions

Netanyahu raised the possibility of “other options” to the ISF, without elaborating on what those might be. He would not rule out Israeli annexation of the West Bank, describing it as a topic of “negotiation”, and emphasized that Israel was strongly against the creation of a Palestinian state, the goal of the peace process supported by most European and Arab governments as well as the overwhelming majority of UN member states.

ICC Warrants and Legal Proceedings

Netanyahu said the primary reason he would not be able make a return visit to Germany was the ICC arrest warrants, which he described as invented by the court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, as a way of shifting focus from accusations of sexual harassment against him. Khan has refuted any wrongdoing, but stepped aside from his role in May pending the outcome of an investigation.

Netanyahu remarked Khan was “destroying the credibility of the ICC” with “unfounded allegations of starvation and genocide” from a “compromised official”.

A separate tribunal, the international court of justice, is reviewing charges that Israel has perpetrated genocide in Gaza. In September, a UN autonomous investigative commission determined that Israel had committed genocide.

Questioned about the prospect of Netanyahu visiting Germany, Merz informed reporters on Sunday: “There is little cause to consider this at the current juncture.”