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Benjamin Netanyahu has indicated that the opening stage of the internationally-supported Gaza halt in hostilities plan is nearing finalization, noting that the next phase must include the demilitarization of Hamas.

Forthcoming Talks in Washington

The Israeli leader stated he would address the following stages later this month in Washington with Donald Trump, whose Gaza plans were formalized in a UN Security Council decision on 17 November.

“We are close to conclude the first phase,” Netanyahu said. “But we have to guarantee that we achieve the identical objectives in the next phase, and that’s something I look forward to addressing with President Trump.”

European Chancellor Visits Netanyahu

The prime minister was addressing the media at a joint news conference with the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, who said: “Phase two must come now and then phase three must also be taken into account.”

Merz is the first head of state of a major European state to hold talks with Netanyahu in Israel since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued warrants for arrest for the Israeli prime minister and his ex- defence minister, Yoav Gallant, in November last year for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

After winning federal elections in February, Merz had stated he would invite Netanyahu to Germany despite the ICC warrants, but said on Sunday a trip was not presently under consideration. Netanyahu rejects the warrants as “trumped-up charges” from a “biased prosecuting office”.

Details of the Ongoing Truce

Under the first phase of the existing ceasefire deal, Hamas released the last 20 surviving Israeli captives in exchange for some 2,000 Palestinian detainees held by Israel, and it has handed over all but one of 28 bodies of hostages killed during the war. At the same time, Israeli forces have pulled back to a truce line, leaving them in occupation of 58% of the Gaza Strip.

Following the ceasefire was put into effect on 10 October, Israeli forces have been responsible for the deaths of more than 360 Palestinians, including an estimated 70 children. Three Israeli soldiers have been fatally wounded in Hamas attacks over the same period.

Next Steps and Ambiguous Timeline

Neither Trump’s suggestions, nor UN Security Council resolution 2803 which largely supported them, set out a schedule extending the ceasefire into a permanent peace. Hamas is supposed to disarm, Israeli troops are meant to withdraw farther, and an international stabilization force is to be set up under the authority of a “board of peace” of world leaders led by Trump, supervising a administrative Palestinian council to run daily governance of Gaza.

The sequencing of these actions is vague in Trump’s plan or in resolution 2803. In his remarks on Sunday, Netanyahu stressed Hamas disarmament.

“I think it’s vital to ensure that Hamas adheres not only with the ceasefire, but also with their obligation which they undertook to disarm and have Gaza demilitarized,” he asserted.

Potential Options and Political Positions

Netanyahu raised the prospects of “alternatives” to the ISF, without explaining what those might be. He would not rule out Israeli sovereignty of the West Bank, labeling it as a subject of “negotiation”, and reiterated that Israel was adamantly against the establishment of a Palestinian state, the aim of the peace process supported by most European and Arab governments as well as the vast majority of UN member states.

International Criminal Court Charges and Legal Proceedings

Netanyahu stated the primary reason he would not be able to make a return visit to Germany was the ICC arrest warrants, which he described as invented by the court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, as a means of diverting attention from allegations of sexual harassment against him. Khan has refuted any misconduct, but recused himself from his role in May pending the outcome of an inquiry.

Netanyahu remarked Khan was “damaging the credibility of the ICC” with “false allegations of starvation and genocide” from a “compromised prosecutor”.

A separate tribunal, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), is weighing up allegations that Israel has perpetrated genocide in Gaza. In September, a UN autonomous investigative commission found that Israel had carried out genocide.

Questioned about the possibility of Netanyahu visiting Germany, Merz told reporters on Sunday: “There is no reason to discuss this at the current juncture.”