Timeline for the second phase in Gaza to begin mid-January… two months to disarm Hamas
Israeli reports indicate that a timetable has been set for steps in Gaza ahead of Donald Trump’s visit to Israel, paving the way for early elections.
According to leaks in Israeli media, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump have drawn up a schedule for measures to be implemented in Gaza before the U.S. president’s visit in May, as preparation for early elections in June.
The leaks suggest that Trump will announce, on January 15, the details of his next steps in the plan to end the war in Gaza.
Under the understandings reached, reconstruction will begin in the area currently under Israeli army control in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, in parallel with the disarmament of Hamas — a process expected to last two months.
The upcoming steps also include reopening the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt in both directions.
All of this would precede Trump’s visit to Israel in May to receive the “Israel Prize for Peace,” coinciding with celebrations marking the declaration of the State of Israel.
It would also come before early general elections planned for June, instead of October 2026, when the Knesset’s current term is due to end.
The second phase
After Netanyahu had previously sought to obstruct the move to the second phase of Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza, Israel’s Channel 12 reported: “U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed, in a meeting on Monday, to move to the second phase of the agreement to end the war in Gaza.”
The channel added : “One consequence of this decision is that reconstruction in the Rafah area will begin before Hamas is disarmed, and this is expected to take place in areas controlled by the Israeli army.”
It continued: “The Americans — especially Trump’s advisers — are pressuring Netanyahu to open the Rafah crossing in both directions.”
According to the report, “there are no agreements regarding the duration of Hamas’s disarmament or how it will be carried out.”
The channel noted that Netanyahu is dropping hints that would allow Trump to show necessary progress in Gaza.
It quoted an Israeli official as saying: “At this stage, when nothing is clear in Gaza — neither an international force nor the identity of a technocratic government — neither side is interested in highlighting disagreements.”
Early elections
The Israeli channel also linked these mutual signals between Netanyahu and Trump to a possible visit by Trump, saying it would encourage Netanyahu to bring elections forward.
It said: “The timing of inviting President Trump to Israel next May to receive the Israel Prize for Peace is no coincidence. Netanyahu has already decided, according to assessments, to move elections from October to June 2026.”
It added: “Trump’s arrival in Israel in May will form a central part of Netanyahu’s election campaign.”
The return of Ran Gvili
An Israeli official told the channel that “it became clear during the Netanyahu–Trump meeting that the U.S. president was not prepared to accept the condition that moving to the second phase would only happen if the body of Israeli hostage Ran Gvili were returned.”
The official said: “President Trump is not misleading the Gvili family. He told them he would bring Ran back. But he did not say exactly what they may have expected to hear. Unlike the previous president, this one does not pledge what he cannot fulfill,” in an implied reference to Joe Biden.
In this context, an Israeli official added: “There are quiet understandings for now between Netanyahu and Trump, including progress in the areas cleared by the Israeli army — within the ‘yellow line’ inside Gaza — where reconstruction would begin according to an American model, particularly in the well-known sector in Rafah.”
Disarming Hamas
Contrary to Channel 12, which said there is no time frame for disarming Hamas, the newspaper Israel Hayom stated that “the period Israel and the United States will give Hamas to disarm is two months.”
It explained that “this was agreed during a meeting between Netanyahu and Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.”
It added: “It was also decided that joint teams would set clear, mutually agreed criteria for what constitutes an actual dismantling of Hamas,” while noting that “Israel fears the movement will retain most of its weapons and capabilities.”
However, the paper wrote: “The two countries agreed that such a situation would be unacceptable. They also agreed that disarming Hamas and Gaza includes destroying the tunnels. If Hamas does not disarm, as expected, responsibility will revert to Israel and the Israeli army.”
For its part, Israel’s Channel 13 indicated that “Netanyahu presented Trump with a dramatic figure: there are still 60,000 Kalashnikovs in Hamas’s possession in Gaza, and he told him: If they are not collected, we will not move to the second phase.”
