Netanyahu arrives in Washington at critical juncture for Middle East

Jerusalem: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel arrived in Washington on Sunday afternoon for meetings this week with President Donald Trump and senior administration officials at a pivotal moment for the Middle East.

"This is an important meeting that strengthens the deep alliance between Israel and the United States and will enhance our cooperation," Danny Danon, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, said in a statement on social media after Netanyahu's flight landed.

Trump has made it clear that he wants an end to the wars in the Middle East, which began with the October 2023 Hamas-led assault on Israel that led to 15 months of devastating conflict in the Gaza Strip that also spread to Lebanon. Before boarding his plane Sunday, Netanyahu made several references to "peace."

"The decisions we made in the war have already changed the face of the Middle East," Netanyahu said. "I believe that we can strengthen security, broaden the circle of peace and achieve a remarkable era of peace through strength," he added.

Netanyahu is expected to be the first foreign leader to meet with Trump since his inauguration last month. The Israeli leader is expected to hold formative discussions with the Trump administration about several crucial regional issues.

Negotiations are supposed to start Monday for the second phase of the ceasefire deal for Gaza that would turn the temporary truce that came into effect Jan 19 into a more permanent cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hamas and see the release of all the remaining hostages being held there.

Attesting to the fragility of the situation on the ground, an Israeli aircraft on Sunday fired toward a vehicle in Gaza that the military said was advancing north along an unauthorized route instead of the agreed inspection route, breaking days of calm in the Palestinian enclave. Gaza's Ministry of Health did not immediately report any fatalities.

In addition, the trial stage of a US-brokered ceasefire for Lebanon is set to expire Feb 18, by which time both the Israeli military and Hezbollah are meant to have vacated the southern part of that country.

Overarching issues for the future of the Middle East also remain on the agenda for Netanyahu during his visit. Those include curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions and support for armed proxies on Israel's borders, as well as the possibility of a grand bargain involving formal ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, a major regional player.

Netanyahu said from the tarmac Sunday that the issues to be discussed with Trump include "victory over Hamas, achieving the release of all our hostages and dealing with the Iranian terror axis in all its components."

His office said that Netanyahu was expected to meet with Steve Witkoff, Trump's Middle East envoy, on Monday and with Trump on Tuesday.

Netanyahu spoke by phone with Witkoff on Saturday and the two men agreed to start the negotiations for the second phase of the Gaza deal in their meeting Monday, Netanyahu's office said in a statement. The schedule suggested that Witkoff would play a major role in shuttle diplomacy.

There was no immediate comment from the White House or Witkoff, who played an important role in brokering the initial, six-week phase of the cease-fire deal for Gaza. In the days before Trump took office, he worked in coordination with officials from the Biden administration, as well as Qatar and Egypt -- the two main countries mediating between Israel and Hamas.

On Sunday, the prime minister of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said at a news conference in Doha that his government would "continue to work in cooperation with our partners in the Arab Republic of Egypt and the United States to ensure the full implementation of this agreement."

Sheikh Naim Kassem, Hezbollah's leader, accused Israel in a speech Sunday of failing to uphold the terms of the Lebanon truce. He called for pressure to be put on the United States, which is overseeing the agreement, to ensure compliance. Israel says it is acting in southern Lebanon against violations by Hezbollah.

Kassem also said that a funeral for Hassan Nasrallah, the longtime Hezbollah chief killed in an Israeli airstrike last fall, would be held Feb 23.

The Israeli military, for its part, has shifted its focus over the past two weeks to the occupied West Bank, describing its actions as a counterterrorism operation. The military said it had carried out airstrikes against three armed squads late Saturday and blown up 23 buildings in the northern West Bank city of Jenin on Sunday. In a statement, the military said the structures served the militants as explosives laboratories, observation posts or weapons stores.

Netanyahu's visit to Washington comes amid a more hopeful atmosphere in Israel and Gaza. The first phase of the ceasefire has seen the release over the past two weeks of 13 Israeli hostages, including a dual American-Israeli citizen, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

Many of the families of released hostages have lauded Trump and his team as having gotten the long-awaited deal over the finish line after months of efforts by the Biden administration.

But questions surrounding the next phase remain unresolved.

Netanyahu had vowed publicly and repeatedly to destroy Hamas' military and governing capabilities and to preserve the option of going back to fighting after the initial phase of the deal, if necessary.

Images of gun-toting Hamas militants organizing the handover ceremonies of hostages to the Red Cross have underscored the degree to which the group remains in control in Gaza.

Witkoff made a rare visit to the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, according to a White House official, aiming to reinforce the ceasefire that has also allowed tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians to return to their homes. Witkoff had also visited Saudi Arabia before meeting Netanyahu in Israel last week.

Trump has raised the idea on several occasions that Gaza residents should be moved en masse to Egypt and Jordan. His suggestion echoes an idea floated in Israel early in the war and the wishes of the Israeli far right that Palestinians be encouraged to leave Gaza.

But on Saturday Egypt and Jordan -- along with Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries -- warned in a joint statement that any plan that encouraged the "transfer or uprooting of Palestinians from their land" would threaten regional stability and "undermine the chances of peace and coexistence among its people."