Netanyahu says Israel will attend latest push for Gaza ceasefire

Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will send a delegation to Rome for talks aimed at ending Israel’s war with Hamas, but took aim at comments by Kamala Harris that she would “not be silent” about the “tragedy” in Gaza.

The Israeli prime minister’s comments came on Friday during a visit to Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, a day after he discussed ceasefire efforts with US President Joe Biden and Ms Harris, the vice-president, in Washington.

The Biden administration said Israel and the US were closing “gaps” on the issue. Ms Harris, the presumptive Democrat presidential candidate, however, said that she would “not be silent” on the “tragedy” and the “suffering” of Gazan civilians as she called for all parties to reach an agreement.

“It is time for this war to end and end in a way where Israel is secure, all the hostages are released, the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can exercise their right to freedom, dignity and self-determination,” Ms Harris said.

After his meeting with Trump, Mr Netanyahu said that Israel would send negotiators “probably at the beginning of the week” to talks in Rome.

He said that there was “some movement” on ceasefire efforts “because of the military pressure we exerted”.

However, he said that “I think to the extent that Hamas understands that there’s no daylight between Israel and the United States, that it expedites the deal,” he said. “And I hope that those [Harris’s] comments don’t change that.”

Hamas invaded southern Israel on 7 October last year, killing more than 1,200 people, mostly Israelis, and taking 251 people hostage. Many remain in Gaza.

The Hamas-run health ministry says that more than 39,000 people have been killed in Israel’s military response in Gaza.

The chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court has requested arrest warrants for Mr Netanyahu and several Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes. All reject the allegations.

The Rome talks are the latest in a series of initiatives to end the war. The US is sending the head of the CIA, Bill Burns, to meet representatives from Qatar, Egypt and Israel. The talks are scheduled to begin on Sunday.

They will discuss a deal to end hostilities and return hostages still held in Gaza.

Trump said on Friday that he would commit to seeking peace if re-elected, and attacked Ms Harris’s comments the day before as “disrespectful” to Israel.

He said that his own relationship with Mr Netanyahu was “always good. No president has done what I’ve done for Israel and we’ve always had a very good relationship.”

Trump’s administration upended several longstanding US policies on the Middle East and Israel.

It announced plans to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a decision that enraged Palestinians and their allies, who said it endangered the long-held goal of making occupied East Jerusalem the capital of a future Palestinian state.

The administration also withdrew from an international deal with Iran aimed at halting its nuclear weapons programme – a move backed by Israel but criticised by European states.

It developed the “Abraham accords”, which sought to normalise relations between Israel and its Arab neighbours.

And it offered a “Trump peace plan” that would have unified Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and given it sovereignty over many parts of the occupied West Bank. The proposal was immediately rejected by the Palestinian Authority.