Netanyahu: Win over Iran created opportunity that must be seized to expand peace deals

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel has the chance to attain the “dramatic expansion” of its normalization accords with Middle Eastern countries, hours after a report emerged that the premier and US President Donald Trump agreed on a vision that would see the war in Gaza end within two weeks and Arab states sign peace deals with Israel.

“We fought valiantly against Iran — and achieved a great victory,” Netanyahu said. “This victory opens up an opportunity for a dramatic expansion of the peace agreements. We are working hard on this.”

“Along with the release of our hostages and the defeat of Hamas,” he continued, “there is a window of opportunity here that must not be missed. Not even a single day can be wasted.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel has the chance to attain the “dramatic expansion” of its normalization accords with Middle Eastern countries, hours after a report emerged that the premier and US President Donald Trump agreed on a vision that would see the war in Gaza end within two weeks and Arab states sign peace deals with Israel.

“We fought valiantly against Iran — and achieved a great victory,” Netanyahu said. “This victory opens up an opportunity for a dramatic expansion of the peace agreements. We are working hard on this.”

“Along with the release of our hostages and the defeat of Hamas,” he continued, “there is a window of opportunity here that must not be missed. Not even a single day can be wasted.”

According to the earlier report by Israel Hayom, which cited “a source familiar with the conversation,” Netanyahu and Trump agreed to a rapid end to the armed conflict in Gaza and the expansion of the Abraham Accords following the US strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities this week.

Signed at the White House on September 15, 2020, under the first Trump administration, the Abraham Accords normalized ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, along with Bahrain. Morocco later also joined the accords.

According to Israel Hayom, Trump and Netanyahu agreed in a phone call that the war in Gaza would end within two weeks, requiring Israel to halt its military offensive and Hamas to release the remaining 50 hostages. Four Arab states, including the UAE and Egypt, would jointly govern the Gaza Strip in place of Hamas. The terror group’s leadership would be exiled, and all hostages would be released.

However, Arab allies have repeatedly asserted that they will not take part in the postwar rehabilitation of Gaza absent Israeli acquiescence to the Palestinian Authority gaining a foothold in Gaza as part of a pathway to a future two-state solution, but Netanyahu has flatly rejected any PA role in the Strip.

Moreover, Hamas’s leaders have also long rejected demands to go into exile.

Gazans who wish to emigrate would be absorbed by several unnamed countries, the report said.

Saudi Arabia and Syria would establish diplomatic ties with Israel, and other Arab and Muslim countries would follow suit.

Israel, for its part, would express its support for a future two-state solution, conditioned on reforms made by the Palestinian Authority. Meanwhile, the leaders agreed that Washington would recognize Israeli sovereignty in some parts of the West Bank.

Saudi Arabia has long conditioned the establishment of diplomatic ties on Israel’s commitment to Palestinian statehood, while the possibility of peace with Syria has been raised repeatedly in recent months as the two countries are reportedly in direct contact.

The reported plan could explain Trump’s fury over Israel’s planned retaliation to Iran’s violation of the nascent ceasefire on Tuesday, and his Truth Social post calling for an end to Netanyahu’s corruption trial.