Israel’s security cabinet was set to meet Monday to discuss the second phase of the government’s ceasefire deal with Hamas, even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced his support for President Donald Trump’s plan to take over the Gaza strip.
Following a call with Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, Netanyahu instructed Israel’s negotiating team to depart for the Egyptian capital of Cairo on Monday to discuss the “continuation of the implementation” of the first stage of the deal that has brought a pause to deadly fighting in Gaza, the Israeli leader’s office said in a statement on Sunday.
Netanyahu’s office said the negotiating team would receive “instructions for the continuation of negotiations on Phase B issues” after the Israeli security Cabinet’s discussion on the matter as it pushed back on reports suggesting Israel had dispatched the negotiating team under U.S. pressure.
Branding those reports “fake news,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement there had been “no American pressure to send a delegation to negotiate Phase 2.”
Still, plans for further negotiations come after Netanyahu said Sunday following a visit from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Israel and the Trump administration had formed a “joint strategy” to ensure that the “gates of hell will open” if all of the hostages who remain held captive in Gaza are not eventually released by Hamas — a key requirement of the current ceasefire deal.
He also said Israel was “committed” to Trump’s widely condemned plan to take over over Gaza, where tens of thousands of people have been killed and much of the infrastructure destroyed during Israel’s offensive in the enclave.
That campaign began after around 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 terror attacks, with 251 people taken hostage into Gaza in an assault that marked a major escalation in a decadeslong conflict.
Since then, more than 48,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to local health officials, though researchers estimate the death toll could be significantly higher. At least 60% of the territory’s infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, has been destroyed, according to estimates from the United Nations.
Hailing Trump’s proposal to take over Gazaas a “revolutionary vision,” Netanyahu said the U.S. and Israel had also come up with a “joint strategy” to see it through and bring about a “completely different Gaza.”