Pressure mounts on Netanyahu to secure Gaza ceasefire deal

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00:00The Israeli Prime Minister has voiced hopes that a meeting with the U.S. President in Washington

00:04this Monday can help advance a ceasefire deal. Indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas

00:10began on Sunday evening in Doha, which, as well as an end to the fighting, aims to reach a deal

00:16on the release of hostages from Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. On Monday, Palestinian

00:22sources told Reuters that the first round of talks ended inconclusively, a perennial sticking point

00:28being whether the ceasefire will lead to the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza

00:32and end the war altogether. Donald Trump, whose policies have largely aligned with Israel's own

00:38priorities, pledged last week to be very firm with Netanyahu on ending the war without saying

00:44what that would entail. Let's take a listen to the Israeli Prime Minister.

00:50We are working to achieve the deal that we have discussed under the conditions that we have

00:55agreed to. I have sent a team to negotiate with clear instructions. And I think that this

01:02meeting with President Trump can definitely help advance this deal, which we are all hoping for.

01:08For more on this story, we can cross to our correspondent in Jerusalem, Noga Tanopolsky.

01:14Noga, Netanyahu is under immense pressure then to secure a ceasefire and bring hostages home.

01:19That's what a majority of Israelis want to see. Will this finally be the moment Israel signs a deal?

01:24We don't know. And it's important to remember, I would say two things. One is that in that statement

01:33that we just saw from the Prime Minister as he was about to depart for Washington,

01:38he underscored that what he wants is a deal, quote, on our terms. So we're not sure Netanyahu has flown

01:45to D.C. with any kind of a spirit of flexibility or of advance motion. The team that he sent to

01:52negotiate on Israel's behalf in Doha is not at all the level, the kind of a team that is authorized to

02:00make decisions or to actually take concrete steps on Israel's behalf. So right now we have to say

02:07that things look a little bit doubtful. And Netanyahu is facing immense and opposing pressure

02:14from the President of the United States, on the one hand, who has said very clearly he wants to see

02:19this war over and the people of Israel, the majority of the people of Israel who similarly want to see

02:25this war over. But Netanyahu faces the counter pressure from his own extremist ministers who

02:33are threatening at any moment to abandon the coalition and possibly topple Netanyahu's hold on power

02:40if, in fact, he does decide on any deal that would bring an end to the war. Also, one last thing on

02:48say, back in January, just before President Trump took office, Israel signed a similar deal and simply

02:54walked away from it right before the moment that it was supposed to advance towards negotiations on

03:00ending the war. So Israel doesn't have the best track record right now with these discussions.

03:04And this trip to Washington was expected to be a major victory lap for the Israeli Prime Minister

03:10after joint airstrikes with the US on Iran. But is that actually what it's shaping up to be?

03:19We don't know. And obviously, any visit to the White House these days is a very shifting

03:25scenario. But right now, it is a very strange visit. Netanyahu was expecting to be able to shine

03:33in a major photo op, at least, next to President Trump, a sort of joint victory lap on behalf of

03:39the Israeli, for the Israeli Prime Minister, the first who really attacked Iran's nuclear program,

03:45and the American president who joined him in these attacks and kind of delivered the coup de grâce.

03:52And yet there's nothing scheduled. Today is Monday. It's the most important day of Prime Minister

03:58Netanyahu's visit. And there are no press events scheduled. Zero. The next few days that Netanyahu

04:05will be in Washington, he's not planning on sale. As far as we know, there's no plan for him to meet

04:10the president again. He'll be meeting with lower level officials. And today's meeting with Trump will

04:15take place when it's 1.30 in the morning in Israel. A dinner, a private dinner for the two of them in the

04:21White House with no images right now planned. So it does seem to be a somewhat awkward visit this time,

04:28and we'll just have to see how it.

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