Israel and Hamas are “very shortly expected to move into the second phase of the ceasefire” after the terrorist group returns the remains of the last hostage held in Gaza. That was the confident prediction Sunday of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who acknowledged the opening step of President Donald Trump’s comprehensive 20-point ceasefire plan is close to fruition.
AP reports Netanyahu made his forecast during a news conference with visiting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz while stressing the second phase, which addresses the disarming of Hamas and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, could begin before the end of the year.
Hamas has yet to repatriate the remains of Ran Gvili, a 24-year-old police officer who was murdered in the Hamas terrorist-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war.
His body was taken to Gaza.
According to the AP report the next steps are already being considered:
The ceasefire’s second stage also includes the deployment of an international force to secure Gaza and forming a temporary Palestinian government to run day-to-day affairs under the supervision of an international board led by U.S. President Donald Trump.
A senior Hamas official on Sunday told AP the group is ready to discuss “freezing or storing or laying down” its weapons as part of the ceasefire in a possible approach to one of the most difficult issues ahead.
Netanyahu said few people believed the ceasefire’s first stage could be achieved, and the second phase is just as challenging, but he is happy to confound the critics who said it would never happen while questioning his own ability to deliver.
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“As I mentioned to the chancellor, there’s a third phase, and that is to deradicalize Gaza, something that also people believed was impossible. But it was done in Germany, it was done in Japan, it was done in the Gulf States. It can be done in Gaza, too, but of course Hamas has to be dismantled,” he said.
The return of Gvili’s remains — and Israel’s return of 15 bodies of Palestinians in exchange — would complete the first phase of Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan.
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