Netanyahu to meet Trump in Florida for crucial Gaza talks

ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected to meet Donald Trump in Florida yesterday, with the US president pushing to move to the next stage of the fragile Gaza truce plan.

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The crucial meeting at Trump’s lavish Mara-Lago resort comes as some White House officials fear both Israel and Hamas are slow-walking the second phase of their ceasefire.

Trump, who said Netanyahu had asked for the talks, is reportedly keen to announce - as soon as January - a Palestinian technocratic government for Gaza and the deployment of an international stabilization force.

The two leaders are to meet at 1pm, the White House said.

Israeli government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian said Netanyahu would discuss the second phase, which involves making sure that “Hamas is disarmed, Gaza is demilitarised”.

But Netanyahu will also try to shift the focus onto Iran during his fifth meeting in the US with Trump this year, amid reports he will push for more US strikes on Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Netanyahu would also bring up the “danger Iran poses not only to the region of the Middle East, but the United States as well,’ Bedrosian said before flying out with the Israeli premier.