• US president pushes Netanyahu to ‘adjust his approach’
• Ceasefire negotiations drag on sans progress
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has indicated that the next stage of his administration’s plan for Gaza is poised to begin soon, making the declaration even as violence flared anew in the region.
Asked by a reporter in the Oval Office on Wednesday when phase two will commence, Trump avoided answering directly, saying the process is “going along well”, the Times of Israel reported.
“It’s going on very well. We have peace in the Middle East. People don’t realise it,” Yeni Safak quoted him as saying — a claim immediately challenged by the reported casualties from Israeli airstrikes.
The attacks followed a threat from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to respond after soldiers were injured in clashes with Palestinian fighters in the city of Rafah.
“Phase two is moving along. It’s going to happen pretty soon,” he added. Trump had previously declared on October 14 that phase two “had already begun”.
According to the Middle East Monitor, during a recent phone call between the US president and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, the former raised several issues where he wanted Netanyahu to adjust his approach, starting with allowing the second phase of the agreement intended to end the war in Gaza.
During the call, Trump asked Netanyahu: “Why they were being killed rather than allowed to surrender,” referring to Hamas fighters reportedly killed in Rafah. Netanyahu reportedly replied that they were “armed and dangerous”, so they are being eliminated.
Negotiations
Meanwhile, negotiations on the next stage of the Gaza ceasefire continue without significant progress at a moment when the truce appears particularly fragile, AFP reported on Thursday.
The first phase included a withdrawal of Israeli forces on October 10 to a line that still gave them military control of over half of Gaza, the release of all prisoners, living or dead, held by Hamas or its allies, and an increase in humanitarian aid entering Gaza.
Though all living prisoners were released on October 13, one body is still said to be in Gaza.
For now, the Israeli government demands that the last hostage’s remains are returned before any talks begin on the second phase via mediating countries: United States, Egypt, Qatar and Turkiye.
Egypt will also host a conference on Gaza’s reconstruction that will focus on the territory’s humanitarian needs but no date has yet been set.
The process seems to be stuck mainly due to the Trump plan’s grey areas.
“Israel doesn’t really seem to be putting any serious thought into what the post-war phase is supposed to look like,” said Michael Milshtein, a researcher at Tel Aviv University.
