U.S. envoy Jared Kushner met Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday as attention shifts to the tougher second phase of the Gaza ceasefire plan, with a standoff over roughly 200 Hamas fighters trapped in Rafah tunnels emerging as the immediate test.
The Israeli government said the talks covered disarming Hamas, demilitarising Gaza and ensuring the group plays no future governing role in the enclave. An official briefed on the meeting added that discussions also addressed an international stabilisation force proposed under President Donald Trump’s plan.
Mediators are seeking a fix to the Rafah impasse, where around 200 Hamas fighters remain in tunnels in an area still under Israeli military control. Hamas wants safe passage in return for disarming, a step Israel has resisted. U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff has framed a disarmament-for-passage arrangement as a test case for wider steps in the ceasefire process, but two Western diplomats said Israel is reluctant to allow movement either deeper into Gaza or to Egypt.
Longer term progress hinges on a transitional governing body for Gaza without Hamas involvement, the mandate and composition of the stabilisation force, the terms of its deployment, disarmament and reconstruction. Any force could require a UN mandate for countries to participate. The United Arab Emirates said it does not yet see a clear framework and would not take part under current conditions.
Both sides accuse each other of breaching the October truce. On Sunday, Hamas returned the body of an Israeli soldier killed more than a decade ago, but four hostage bodies are still believed to remain in Gaza. Israel says Hamas has stalled on handing over all 28 bodies listed in the plan, while Hamas says Israeli restrictions are obstructing aid. Local health authorities in Gaza report 244 Palestinians killed by Israeli strikes since the truce took effect, with two, including a child, killed on Monday after another fatality on Sunday. Israel’s military did not immediately comment.
Israeli officials say all policy moves on Gaza are being coordinated with the U.S. administration. Netanyahu told the Knesset that Gaza would be demobilised either the easy way or the hard way. Mediators warn that any attempt to force the tunnel fighters’ surrender could jeopardise the ceasefire’s second phase.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced that he will meet U.S. President Donald Trump later this month, saying discussions will focus on the second phase of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan, regional peace prospects and the future governance of the Strip.
‘We will continue to do everything we can to ensure that the peace plan for Gaza is put into action as soon as possible and that this humanitarian tragedy comes to an end,’ Turkish top diplomat Fidan tells Anadolu
A giant Christmas tree adorned with red and gold baubles stands in the West Bank city of Bethlehem for the first time since 2022.
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A delayed local vote in the rural Honduran town of San Antonio de Flores has become a pivotal moment in the country’s tightest presidential contest, with both campaigns watching its results as counting stretches into a second week.
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Azerbaijan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeyhun Bayramov held both a tête-à-tête and an extended-format meeting with Seyed Abbas Araghchi, the Foreign Minister of Iran, in Baku on Monday (8 December).
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi left Tehran for Baku on Sunday (7 December) evening to hold talks with Azerbaijan’s President and Foreign Minister.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is in Türkiye on Monday (8 December) for an official visit. The trip, at the invitation of the Turkish president, will see Orban attend the seventh meeting of the Türkiye-Hungary High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he will meet U.S. President Donald Trump later this month, saying a second phase of the U.S. president's Gaza plan was close.
At the Doha Forum, Assistant of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Hikmat Hajiyev and Secretary of the Armenian Security Council Armen Grigoryan discussed the peace process between the two countries.
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