Gaza Negotiations: What Obstacle Emerged at Netanyahu and Trump’s Secret Meeting?

Another important meeting took place in US-Israel relations, reports reuters.com. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump held unscheduled, closed-door talks on Tuesday. This conversation lasted about an hour and journalists were not admitted. Many interpret this as a sign that a new obstacle has emerged in the negotiations.

According to sources, before the meeting between Trump and Netanyahu, a Qatari delegation spoke with top US officials at the White House. One of the main topics discussed was the release of hostages in Gaza and the elimination of Hamas’s military and political capabilities.

According to Trump, almost the entire negotiation was devoted to the Gaza issue, and both leaders showed determination to solve this problem. At the same time, officials gave very little information about the results, the talks remained confidential, and the meeting was short, making it difficult to fully understand the situation.

“We need to solve this problem. Gaza is a tragedy. He (Netanyahu) wants to solve it, I want to as well, and I think the other side does too,” the publication quotes Trump as saying.

According to Al-Jazeera correspondent Mike Hanna, "very little information" came out of the meeting, so understanding the situation is difficult.

“However, the fact that it was held at this level of secrecy, that no specific statements were made about the details, and that the meeting lasted just one hour — all this may indicate that some obstacle has emerged. In this case, the optimistic mood expressed by both leaders over the past 24 hours may have been clouded,” Hanna says.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff said that a 60-day ceasefire agreement could be reached in the coming days, with 10 hostages expected to be returned alive and 9 bodies handed over. However, the only unresolved issue is up to which line Israel's defense forces should withdraw from Gaza. Hamas is demanding a return to the situation as of March, but Israel refuses.

Meanwhile, in talks with US House Speaker Mike Johnson, Netanyahu said: “Our work in Gaza is not done yet, Hamas must be fully neutralized.”

Israeli media reports that Netanyahu is under serious pressure from Trump to reach an agreement on Gaza. There have also been reports that Witkoff’s flight to Doha was delayed, possibly reflecting a change in his position.

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