US President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff had a “tense” meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday – a meeting in which the envoy heavily engaged with the prime minister Israeli government to accept the compromises necessary to reach a hostage deal before the US president’s inauguration on January 20, the Times of Israel two managers.
Witkoff’s pressure on Netanyahu appears to have had an effect, as the two officials familiar with the matter indicated that significant gaps were filled during discussions over the weekend.
Spokespeople for Witkoff and Netanyahu did not respond to requests for comment.
While the Prime Minister has been exerting pressure for many weeks in favor of a temporary ceasefire which would only concern the first phase of the three-stage proposal submitted by Israel last May, the agreement being finalized would move closer and closer to the initial offer, with clauses linking the first phase to the other two phases – which would make it more difficult for Israel to resume fighting once the first phase is in place, according to the daily Haaretz.
The newspaper added that Israel will also agree to fully withdraw from the Philadelphi corridor in the first phase – a claim that contrasts with a press briefing earlier today by Israeli officials who said that The Jewish state would not leave the corridor during the first or second phase of the agreement. During the summer, Netanyahu explained that maintaining Israeli control over the strip between Egypt and Gaza was essential to Israel’s very survival, insisting that the IDF would remain there indefinitely.
He added conditions regarding the continued Israeli presence in this strip of territory to the initial proposal that had been made by Israel, which had significantly hampered the negotiations in July, Arab officials said at the time and Israelis in Times of Israel.
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