Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene the Israeli security cabinet on Tuesday to discuss the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal after an Israeli delegation arrived in Qatar on Sunday for more Gaza truce talks.The cabinet meeting was scheduled following criticism from the Israeli public and opposition figures over it not being carried out earlier despite the ceasefire agreement explicitly stating that talks between Israel and Hamas would begin on the ceasefire’s 16th day.“The security cabinet is scheduled for Tuesday – because they have time,” opposition head and Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid wrote on X/Twitter. “We saw the hostages on Saturday. They are dying there of hunger and cold, but this government has no urgency and does not care.”
Many officials believe that reaching an agreement on phase two with Hamas could be more difficult to achieve than phase one, noting that Netanyahu had previously stated he would refuse Hamas’s demand for a full stop to the war during the second phase.US President Donald Trump said last week that he supports the destruction of Hamas, which “doesn’t make things easier,” an official told the Jerusalem Post.
Washington, Qatar, and Egypt mediated the ceasefire, which has largely held. In keeping with the deal, on Sunday, the IDF completed its withdrawal from its remaining positions in the Netzarim Corridor, which bisects Gaza.
Israeli delegation arrives in Doha
An Israeli delegation arrived in Doha on Sunday for talks with mediators. However, the delegation's mandate over the deal will be extremely limited, said one Israeli official.
The delegation, which includes Coordinator for the Hostages and the Missing Brig.-Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch, as well as a senior Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) official, referred to as “M,” will only discuss the current phase of the hostage deal and will not negotiate over the second phase.Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, announced “the beginning of the phase two talks” after meeting Netanyahu and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at Mar-a-Lago last week.According to Israeli and other senior officials who recently met with Witkoff, the impression is that despite the hurdles faced by the relevant parties, the Trump administration is still intent on moving forward with phase two of the Gaza deal.President Isaac Herzog said on Sunday that Trump was set to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and possibly Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, although he gave no dates for the talks.The comments, delivered in an interview with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo, came in response to a question about Trump’s recently unveiled proposal to take over and redevelop the Gaza Strip.Herzog did not say when or where the meetings would take place, nor did he discuss their potential content. He also noted that Trump is due to meet with Jordan’s King Abdullah in the coming days, which Jordan’s state news agency has already reported.“President Trump is due to meet with major, major Arab leaders, first and foremost the king of Jordan and the president of Egypt, and I think also the crown prince of Saudi Arabia as well,” Herzog said.“These are partners that must be listened to; they must be discussed with. We have to honor their feelings as well and see how we build a plan that is sustainable for the future,” Herzog said.Saudi Arabia has flatly rejected Trump’s Gaza plan, as have many world leaders. Jordan’s King Abdullah plans to tell Trump during their planned February 11 meeting in Washington that the proposal is a recipe for radicalism that will spread chaos through the Middle East and jeopardize the kingdom’s peace with Israel, Reuters reported earlier this week.