Talks for the next phase of the ceasefire are expected to begin in Doha on 3 February [Getty]
The Trump administration is pressing Israel to proceed with the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire amid rifts in Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition about whether to resume the war when the current six-week truce expires.
Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff reportedly told the Israeli prime minister that Washington was expecting Israel to abide by the agreement to extend the truce into its second phase and that Netanyahu had to deal with the political fallout, Israeli public broadcaster Kan said on Wednesday.
The fragile truce was undermined just hours after their meeting when Israel announced on Thursday it was suspending the release of Palestinian prisoners “until further notice”.
Israel was expected to free 110 Palestinians after Hamas released three Israeli soldiers and five Thai citizens earlier on Thursday.
Netanyahu has faced opposition from the far-right members of his cabinet to an agreement with Hamas, who have threatened to resign and bring down the government.
Three ministers from the extremist Jewish Power party left the government in protest at the ceasefire and the far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has threatened to follow them if Netanyahu doesn’t resume the war at the end of the current truce.
The US, Qatar and Egypt earlier this month brokered a multi-phase ceasefire agreement to gradually wind down the 15-month war.
The first 42-day pause has allowed for a surge in aid to enter Gaza and for thousands of displaced Palestinians to return to the north.
Under the prisoner exchange deal, Israel will release almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in return for 33 captives.
The second phase will see Hamas release the remaining Israeli prisoners, Israeli troops withdraw from Gaza, and a permanent end to the war.
Talks are supposed to start in Doha on 3 February.
Since his appointment, Witkoff has reportedly taken a harder line with Netanyahu, who for months blocked an agreement to end the war.
Descriptions in Israeli media of Witkoff’s first meeting with Netanyahu painted an uncompromising picture of the real estate investor, who demanded that the Israeli leader agree to a ceasefire ahead of Trump’s inauguration.
“Witkoff is coming to tell [Netanyahu] that the last visit wasn’t a one-time thing, that Trump expects him to adhere to what was agreed upon,” a former Israeli official told The Washington Post following Wednesday’s meeting.
Ahead of his meeting with Netanyahu, Witkoff visited the Israel-held Netzarim Corridor in Gaza, becoming the first senior US official to enter the enclave in more than a decade.
The talks in Israel were part of a broader diplomatic push by the Trump administration, which saw Witkoff visit Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, where he met the secretary-general of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation Hussein Al-Sheikh and Saudi foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan.
Netanyahu will visit Washington for talks with Trump next week, becoming the first foreign leader to make the trip since the US president’s inauguration.
Israel’s 15-month war on the Gaza Strip has left most of the territory in ruins and killed 47,460 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
