Premier to meet with Witkoff on Monday, Trump on Tuesday

Fate of ceasefire-hostage deal’s second phase in balance as Netanyahu heads to DC

PM reportedly holding off on sending negotiating team to Qatar until he returns from US, could appoint Ron Dermer to head delegation instead of Mossad chief Barnea

Protesters urge US President Donald Trump to see to completion the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, Tel Aviv, February 1, 2025. (Gilad Furst/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)
Protesters urge US President Donald Trump to see to completion the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, Tel Aviv, February 1, 2025. (Gilad Furst/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with US special envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff in Washington on Monday to initiate talks on the second stage of the hostage release deal with Hamas, which are slated to begin that same day, the Prime Minister’s Office said Saturday.

Netanyahu’s meeting with Witkoff will take place amid a larger diplomatic visit to Washington, which he was set to depart for at 8 a.m. on Sunday. He is slated to meet with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday.

In addition to his meeting with Netanyahu, Witkoff will also speak to the prime minister of Qatar and with Egyptian officials this week, after which he and Netanyahu will discuss sending delegations to engage in further talks about moving to the second stage of the ceasefire deal.

As per the terms of the ceasefire and hostage deal, negotiations for the second phase of the agreement must begin no later than the 16th day of the first phase, this coming Monday.

Despite this, the Walla news site reported Saturday that Netanyahu will not send a team of negotiators to Qatar until after his meeting with Trump.

According to the report, Netanyahu canceled a planned meeting at the last minute on Saturday night with Mossad chief David Barnea, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, hostage point man Nitzan Alon and other senior negotiators.

The officials were informed of the cancelation by Netanyahu’s military Roman Gofman, who told them that the premier had decided not to send the team to Qatar until after his upcoming meeting with Trump. However, delaying the negotiations until then would appear to violate the terms of the deal.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sits on one side of a desk, as his chief of staff Tzachi Braverman takes notes at the head of the desk, in a meeting with top security officials: (L-R) Maj. Gen. Ronen Gofman, the premier’s military aide; IDF Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi; then-defense minister Yoav Gallant; Mossad chief David Barnea; and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, at the IDF’s Kirya headquarters in Tel Aviv, October 2, 2024. (Maayan Toaf/GPO)

Netanyahu’s decision is a “very worrying sign” about the implementation of the second phase, an anonymous Israeli source told the news outlet, expressing concern that it could also negatively impact the fulfillment of the ongoing 42-day first phase.

The second phase of the deal is expected to include the return of all the remaining living hostages — including men under the age of 50 and male soldiers — held by terrorists in the Gaza Strip, in exchange for a yet-to-be-determined number of Palestinian security prisoners and a full Israeli withdrawal from the Strip.

Reports have increasingly indicated, however, that Netanyahu is seriously entertaining the possibility of resuming the war after the first phase of the deal, as the far-right members of his governing coalition have demanded, rather than continuing on to the second phase.

Earlier on Saturday, Channel 13 reported that the premier held a meeting on Friday on the possibility of resuming the war in Gaza. The report quoted senior Israeli officials who said that the premier seems to be pushing for a resumption of the war, and has asked the IDF to present operational plans.

So far, 13 Israeli hostages have been freed as part of the deal, which mandates the release of 33 so-called “humanitarian hostages” during its first 42-day phase, with fighting stopped in the Strip. Five Thai hostages have also been freed outside of the framework of the agreement.

The most recent release of hostages on Saturday saw Yarden Bibas, Keith Siegel, and Ofer Calderon handed over to Israel after 484 days in Hamas captivity.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) meets with Trump envoy Steve Witkoff in his office in Jerusalem on January 29, 2025. (Maayan Toaf/GPO)

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt welcomed the release of the three men, saying: “Today, Americans celebrate the return of American-Israeli citizen Keith Siegel and two Israelis who were held captive by Hamas terrorists since October 7, 2023.”

“President [Donald] Trump and his administration have worked diligently to secure their release and are committed to freeing all remaining hostages,” she added.

The three-phase deal’s later stages are subject to negotiations with the stated goal of reaching a “sustainable calm” in the enclave, alongside the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza, the release of more Palestinian security prisoners and an Israeli withdrawal from the Strip.

The hostages are among 251 Israelis and foreigners kidnapped on October 7, 2023, when some 3,000 Hamas-led terrorists burst into Israel, killing some 1,200 people, amid rampant acts of brutality and overt targeting of civilians.

Seventy-six of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.

Dermer in, Barnea sidelined

Alongside the reports that Netanyahu had canceled a meeting with top Israeli negotiators, Channel 12 reported on Saturday evening that the premier was considering appointing Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer head of Israel’s negotiating team for the remaining hostage talks with Hamas. He would take over the role from Mossad chief Barnea.

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer addresses the Knesset on January 22, 2025. (Noam Moskowitz/Knesset Spokesperson’s Office)

According to the report, Barnea would remain on the team alongside Bar and Alon, while Dermer would oversee the talks.

Israeli officials told the outlet that Netanyahu recognizes that the Israeli negotiators want to do everything possible to ensure that the second stage of the hostage deal with Hamas takes place, and the premier wants to keep his options open.

According to Channel 12, officials on Netanyahu’s team say that since the main discussions are now taking place with the Trump administration, they should be led by someone with a diplomatic viewpoint, not a security one.

The report claimed that Witkoff has expressed that he would prefer to work with Dermer and has reservations about working with the current negotiating team.

Israeli Ofer Kalderon who has been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023, waves before being handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 1, 2025. Photo/Abdel Kareem)

The PMO said that the reports from Channel 12 and other news outlets  were “not true,” and reiterated that “decisions on the negotiations will be made only after the prime minister returns from the US.”

‘Golden age of peace in the Middle East’

According to the Kan public broadcaster, Netanyahu is also expected to use his visit to Washington as an opportunity to push the Trump administration for progress in normalization talks with Saudi Arabia.

Israel is pushing for the establishment of a negotiating team to hold talks on official relations with the Gulf state, the report said, adding that the Trump administration wants to achieve peace between Jerusalem and Riyadh as part of the president’s vision for a “Golden age of peace in the Middle East.”

The move would expand on the Abraham Accords, through which Israel established relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco. Saudi Arabia did not join the 2020 accords and has never recognized Israel.

Normalization has been all but shelved due to the war in Gaza as well as Saudi Arabia’s demands that Israel establish a diplomatic horizon for a future Palestinian state.

However, Trump said ahead of his return to the White House last month that he hoped to use the momentum of the Gaza ceasefire deal to expand the Abraham Accords to include Saudi Arabia.

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