Netanyahu Says 1st Phase of Gaza Cease-Fire Plan Almost Complete

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Dec. 7 said the cease-fire brokered between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group nearly two months ago will soon move to its next scheduled phase.

While speaking during a news conference with visiting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Tel Aviv, Israel, Netanyahu said the cease-fire was “very shortly expected to move into [its] second phase,” which he said entails disarming Hamas and demilitarizing the Gaza Strip. That process, he said, may start at the end of December.

“We’re about to finish the first stage,” Netanyahu said. “But we have to make sure that we achieve the same results in the second stage, and that’s something I look forward to discussing with President Trump.”

President Donald Trump and Netanyahu are scheduled to have a meeting on the conflict and cease-fire later this month, the prime minister said. On Monday, Netanyahu’s office told media outlets that their meeting is scheduled for Dec. 29.

Netanyahu on Dec. 7 stressed that the disarming of Hamas is important. It has been more than two years since the terrorist organization launched a series of attacks against Israel, killing more than 1,200 Israeli citizens and taking more than 250 hostages, including U.S. citizens.

Hamas must also comply with the “commitment which [it] undertook to disarm and have Gaza demilitarize,” Netanyahu said.

He said few people believed that the cease-fire’s first stage could be achieved, noting that the second phase will be just as challenging.

“As I mentioned to the chancellor, there’s a third phase, and that is to deradicalize Gaza, something that also people believed was impossible,” he said. “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.”

In November, Trump urged Israeli President Isaac Herzog to pardon Netanyahu amid charges of fraud, bribery, and a breach of trust. Netanyahu has denied wrongdoing.

Trump said Netanyahu has operated as a “formidable and decisive War Time Prime Minister” who is “now leading Israel into a time of peace.” Those reasons are enough to pardon him, the U.S. president said.

The meeting between Merz and Netanyahu is notable, as the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for the Israeli leader and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant last year for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity arising from the Gaza conflict.

Merz described Germany as one of Israel’s closest allies and said his country is assisting with the implementation of the second phase by sending officers and diplomats to a U.S.-led civilian and military coordination center in southern Israel, as well as by sending humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

“Phase two must come now and then phase three must also be considered,” Merz said.

At one point, Netanyahu made note of the ICC arrest warrant and said it was one reason why he would not visit Germany in the near future. He again criticized the warrants and said they were fabrications.

The international court’s top prosecutor, Karim Khan, is “destroying the reputation of the ICC” with “trumped-up charges of starvation and genocide,” Netanyahu said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the timing of the meeting between Trump and Netanyahu. The Epoch Times regrets the error.