Date for second round of Hamas-Israel talks set.
The American news outlet Axios announced that the second phase of negotiations between Hamas and Israel will resume on Monday.
The news source also announced that Netanyahu has decided not to send a negotiating team to Doha, Qatar, before his meeting with Trump at the White House.
On the other hand, Netanyahu’s office announced that Netanyahu and Steve Whittaker, Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East, agreed that the second phase of negotiations would resume when they met in Washington.
Axios also reported, citing a senior Israeli official, that Netanyahu has also decided to cancel the meeting with the Israeli negotiating team and postpone all negotiations until after his meeting with Trump.
According to the report, the head of the Mossad and the head of the Shin Bet have expressed concern about this change and warned that such a move could harm the process of the second phase of negotiations.
According to the Israeli official, “What happened today regarding the second phase of the talks is worrying, and we hope that these changes will not overshadow the first phase of the talks.”
They also emphasized that the talks with Hamas will be conducted through Qatar and Egypt, not through Washington.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office added that Witkoff will also speak with the Qatari prime minister and Egyptian officials before he meets with Netanyahu.
Israeli Channel 12 also wrote that Netanyahu is considering appointing Ron Dermer to replace the Mossad chief to lead the negotiating team in the prisoner exchange agreement talks with Hamas.