Netanyahu heads to Trump talks amid Gaza truce uncertainty


Benjamin Netanyahu has flown to Washington for his first meeting with Donald Trump since Trump's return to office.

The meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, comes amid widespread uncertainty about the parameters of their encounter.

The meeting is overshadowed by two competing agendas. Trump appears to desire quiet in the Middle East to pursue his policy of widening the 2020 Abraham accords.

On the other hand, Netanyahu aims to understand Trump's stance on the planned start of negotiations for the second phase of a Gaza ceasefire deal.

Other key issues likely to dominate the meeting include:

• A "Day After" Plan for Gaza: How it will be run and by whom
• Iran: What position to take on the country
• Gaza Ceasefire: Negotiations for the second phase have already been complicated by Trump's repeated demand that Egypt and Jordan absorb 1.5 million residents of the Gaza Strip

Complicating Netanyahu's position is the fact that he has been facing mounting pressure from far-right governing partners to resume the war in Gaza after the end of the first phase of the ceasefire deal.

The Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has threatened to quit the government if the war does not restart, potentially stripping Netanyahu of his majority.

While the new Trump administration includes several pro-Israel figures, Trump's ambitions appear less focused on Israel than on the Gulf countries.

In his previous term, Trump handed Netanyahu a series of successes, including relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and the signing of the Abraham accords.

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