ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu is to meet with US President Joe Biden on Tuesday in Washington D.C, before he addresses the American congress this week.

It will be the first time Netanyahu has left Israel or the Middle East since the International Criminal Court moved to issue a warrant on him and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on war crimes charges.

It will also be his first international trip since the International Court of Justice this week ruled, for the first time, that Israeli settlements in Palestine are illegal under international law.

Israeli-US relations are said to be tense at this time, as Biden and his administration are urging the Israeli Government to move forward with the three-phase ceasefire plan to bring peace to Gaza, where Israel have been fighting with Hamas since 7 October.

Netanyahu, the day after Biden announced the ceasefire plan – which he said had been proposed by the Israelis in May – said that no truce will take place until Hamas are eradicated from the Gaza Strip.

This is despite one of the steps in the plan being that Hamas would vacate the region after the an armistice and hostage-prisoner swap. 

So far, no deal has been reached between Israel and Hamas, as negotiations continue under mediator Qatar. The US is hopeful that a deal can be made while Netanyahu is in Washington this week, according to the White House’s Foreign Advisor Jake Sullivan.

“The overriding focus of the meeting between President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu is going to be about the ceasefire and hostage deal,” Sullivan told the Aspen Security Form of Friday.

Sullivan has said that Biden has done all that he can do to get the world leaders to endorse the Israeli plan laid out by him in May and that all that is left is to get both sides to commit to the deal.

He added: “There are details to be worked through, because this is a complicated piece of business to try and execute a ceasefire deal in circumstances such as this. With respect to Israel’s military presence, with respect to humanitarian assistance flows and with respect to what the long-term disposition of the Gaza Strip is going to be.

“So, the President will focus his energy on what is it going to take, working together – the US and Israel – and then the US working with the other guarantors, the other mediators, in this process to get this deal done in the coming weeks,” he said.

The US believe enough can be done to convince Netanyahu to commit to the deal that they claim was proposed by his Government. Although, in recent weeks, the conflict has escalated as peace negotiations continue.

Yesterday, the death toll in Gaza reached at least 38,919 people, including women and children civilians. The toll included 71 deaths in 48 hours, according the Gaza Health Ministry figures.

The Gaza Strip has also been plunged into famine as humanitarian aid into the region has been deceased as a result of escalating violence and alleged Israeli resistance to aid entering towns and passing checkpoints. 

The Journal reported from Gaza this week that the citizens of the region have been forced to eat animal food in order to feed themselves in recent weeks.

Overnight, three people died and and 87 people were injured after a number of Israeli jets struck port facilities in the Yemeni port of Hodeidha, targetting the Houthis.

The attack in Yemen was just one of three attacks that Israel carried out in the Middle East, with Netanyahu yesterday claiming the State was defending itself from attacks by the Houthi rebels, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. 

All three strikes took place in quick succession yesterday and has left the Middle East reeling. The international community is keen to reach a deal so that the threat of intensified conflict in the region does not come to pass.

With reporting by © AFP 2024