Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with US special envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff in Washington on Monday to initiate talks on the second stage of the hostage release deal with Hamas, which are slated to begin that same day, the Prime Minister’s Office said Saturday.

Netanyahu’s meeting with Witkoff will take place amid a larger diplomatic visit to Washington, which he was set to depart for at 8 a.m. on Sunday. He is slated to meet with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday.

In addition to his meeting with Netanyahu, Witkoff will also speak to the prime minister of Qatar and with Egyptian officials this week, after which he and Netanyahu will discuss sending delegations to engage in further talks about moving to the second stage of the ceasefire deal.

As per the terms of the ceasefire and hostage deal, negotiations for the second phase of the agreement must begin no later than the 16th day of the first phase, this coming Monday.

Despite this, the Walla news site reported Saturday that Netanyahu will not send a team of negotiators to Qatar until after his meeting with Trump.

According to the report, Netanyahu canceled a planned meeting at the last minute on Saturday night with Mossad chief David Barnea, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, hostage point man Nitzan Alon and other senior negotiators.

The officials were informed of the cancelation by Netanyahu’s military Roman Gofman, who told them that the premier had decided not to send the team to Qatar until after his upcoming meeting with Trump. However, delaying the negotiations until then would appear to violate the terms of the deal.

Netanyahu’s decision is a “very worrying sign” about the implementation of the second phase, an anonymous Israeli source told the news outlet, expressing concern that it could also negatively impact the fulfillment of the ongoing 42-day first phase.

The second phase of the deal is expected to include the return of all the remaining living hostages — including men under the age of 50 and male soldiers........

© The Times of Israel