(NewsNation) — President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday to discuss the next stage of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza.
Netanyahu will visit Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, where the president spent the holiday weekend.
Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in October meant to end the war in Gaza permanently. The breakthrough came two years after the militant group’s incursion into Israel left more than 1,200 Israelis dead, prompting Israel forces to go after Hamas in Gaza. The Palestinian death toll has surpassed 70,000 since the war began, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Under the second phase of the ceasefire, Hamas is obligated to disarm and cede governing power as Israeli troops withdraw.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week that Washington wants the transitional administration envisioned in the Trump administration’s plan — a Board of Peace and a body made up of Palestinian technocrats — to be in place soon to govern Gaza.
An international security force, mandated by a U.N. Security Council resolution, would be deployed.
Israel and Hamas have accused each other of significant breaches of the peace deal. The return of living and deceased Israeli hostages was the linchpin of the first phase of the ceasefire, but the remains of one hostage have not been returned.
Since October, Israeli strikes have killed more than 400 Palestinians — most of them civilians, according to health officials in Gaza — and Palestinian militants have killed three Israeli soldiers.
Reuters news service contributed to this report.