Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu landed in Washington Sunday night for a week of meetings ahead of the fifth round of hostage releases on Saturday and looking ahead to phase two of the deal. On Monday the prime minister will meet with Steve Witkoff, U.S. President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, in what will mark the opening of negotiations for phase two of the cease-fire and hostage release deal.
Netanyahu's meeting with Trump is scheduled for Tuesday evening (6:00 p.m. in Washington and 1 a.m.
in Israel). The meeting was scheduled to take place a few hours earlier, but was postponed at the request of the White House.
Sources who work with Witkoff said that watching the feature film about the October 7 massacre while he was in Israel seemed to have had a profound effect on him. He is very involved in the issue of the hostages, and his commitment to the issue is profound. Families of hostages asked to join the prime minister's flight to Washington, but they were refused. Several family members, including Einav Zangauker - the mother of Matan Zangauker - arrived in Washington on commercial flights. Netanyahu is also scheduled to meet with family members of hostages during his visit.
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Israel still has leverage to put pressure on Hamas in Gaza
(Photos: Ramadan Abed/Reuters, Hatem Khaled/Reuters, Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)
On Wednesday, Netanyahu will visit the Pentagon and meet with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. In addition, Netanyahu will meet with Congressional and Senate leaders, evangelical leaders, and the designated U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, during the week.
After, contrary to the agreements, Arbel Yehoud was not released in either of the first two rounds of hostage releases, Israel decided not to open the Netzarim Corridor to allow the movement of Gazans north. After the images of horror from the release of Arbel and Gadi Mozes, in the third round that was brought forward, the release of terrorists from Israeli prisons was delayed and angry messages were sent to the mediators in Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lands in Washington
(Video: Itamar Eichner)
The question now is what leverage remains to continue the deal - with 79 hostages still in captivity, and 20 of them scheduled to return during Phase 1 of the deal. Those 20 hostages include 15 men (eight over the age of 50 and seven wounded and sick), the three members of the Bibas family, whose lives are in serious danger, and Avraham Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who have been held captive in Gaza for a decade. Eight of those 20 hostages are no longer alive.
Last week, after Hamas's violation of the agreement, preventing the return of the displaced and the updated agreement, Ynet security commentator Ron Ben Yishai wrote that the return of the displaced is not the only significant lever of pressure that Israel has at the present stage. There is the humanitarian aid - the pace of which Israel controls in the Gaza Strip, and if there are blatant violations of the agreement the IDF is still in a position where it can maneuver without difficulty wherever it is needed.
After those horrific images in the southern Gaza Strip during the liberation of Arbel and Gadi, Israel sent a harsh message to Qatar and Egypt, announcing that "it has a great many levers of pressure that it can immediately apply if the scenes are repeated - and not a hair on the head of the hostages will be harmed."
One of the levers of pressure is the Rafah crossing , which opened on Tuesday to allow the exit of wounded Palestinians - most of them from Hamas. Israel could close it in the event of future violations of the agreement. Hamas wanted very much to open the crossing, and this was also one of the reasons that led it to agree to two phases of releasing hostages within 48 hours.
In a week, on the 22nd day of the deal, Israel is scheduled to withdraw from the center of the Gaza Strip - including the Netzarim Corridor - eastward to the area along the border. Hamas violations could lead to a change.
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Another lever of pressure is, of course, the release of the terrorists. For every adult or wounded hostage that Hamas releases Israel will release 30 adult and sick terrorists (who have up to 15 years left in prison). Alongside this, in addition to releasing the terrorists, Israel is also to release 1,000 Gazans who were arrested after the October 7 massacre. Some 111 of them were released on Saturday, and the rest will be released in the following rounds.
The agreement stipulates additional clauses, from which Israel may also withdraw - at least partially - in the event of future violations of the agreement. These clauses include: the beginning of the rehabilitation of infrastructure (electricity, water, sewage, communications and roads) throughout the Gaza Strip, and the entry of an agreed amount of equipment necessary for civil defense; facilitating the entry of supplies for the settlement of the displaced - 60,000 caravans and 200,000 tents; and the beginning of the necessary arrangements and plans for the reconstruction of the houses , civilian facilities and civilian infrastructure destroyed during the war in Gaza.