Netanyahu meets Trump in US, big decision expected on Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet US President Donald Trump in the US on Monday.

According to Israeli officials, Netanyahu will leave for the US today and meet Trump in Florida a day later.

This will be Netanyahu's fifth visit to the US this year to meet Trump. The visit comes at a time when the Trump administration and regional mediators are trying to advance the second phase of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Donald Trump had said in mid-December that Netanyahu would likely come to Florida to meet him during the Christmas holidays, but a formal schedule for the meeting had not been set at that time.

According to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, the meeting will discuss several important issues related to the region, including Iran's nuclear program, a possible security agreement between Israel and Syria, a ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the next steps in the Gaza ceasefire agreement.

Progress on the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, which was due to be reached in October, has been slow so far. Both sides are accusing each other of violations, while mediators fear that both Israel and Hamas are delaying implementation.

The second phase of the agreement includes issues such as Israel's military withdrawal from Gaza, the establishment of an interim Palestinian administration instead of Hamas, the deployment of an international stabilization force, and Hamas's disarmament, but these points remain the biggest obstacles.

According to the American media agency Axios, the meeting between Trump and Netanyahu is considered very important for the progress of the next stages of the agreement. The report also says that the Trump administration is disappointed with the behavior of the Israeli leadership.