Netanyahu set to meet with Trump to discuss Gaza deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to fly to a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on February 2 to discuss future stages of the treaty agreement to release hostages from Gaza. This was announced on February 1 by Dmitry Gendelman, an adviser to the office of the head of the Israeli government.

"The prime minister will fly to the US on February 2 for a meeting with Donald Trump. A number of topics will be discussed, in particular the subsequent stages of the deal," TASS quoted him as saying.

The Israeli Prime Minister's Office pointed out that Netanyahu agreed with Trump's special envoy for the Middle East to start negotiations on the second stage of the Gaza deal in the US on February 3.

It is specified that during the meeting, the two sides will have to discuss new stages of negotiations of the Gaza deal, the hostage issue, as well as the Iranian issue.

In addition, according to Gendelman, Trump invited the Israeli Prime Minister to the meeting on February 4. As the adviser noted, Netanyahu will be the first foreign leader with whom the American president will meet at the White House during his second presidential term.

Contributing to the freeze: how the truce between Israel and Hamas will work and how long it will last

On the first day of the deal, the Palestinian movement freed three hostages

Earlier, on January 30, the Palestinian Hamas movement handed over eight hostages to the Israeli military: first 19-year-old IDF soldier Agam Berger, and later 29-year-old Arbel Yehud, 80-year-old Gadi Moses and five Thai nationals. Inside Israel, all were sent for medical examinations.

On January 19, the first phase of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect. During this phase of the deal, which will last 42 days, 33 Israeli hostages and about 1,900 Palestinians are to be released. On the same day, the movement released three hostages in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners, and on January 26, four military girls were handed over to the Red Cross. They were subsequently flown back to their homeland.

The situation in the Middle East escalated on the morning of October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a massive rocket attack from the Gaza Strip into Israel. On the same day, Israel began retaliatory strikes.