Netanyahu appoints adviser with Trump ties to lead ceasefire talks
US-born Ron Dermer previously served as Israel’s ambassador to the US and is a former Republican activist with strong ties to the Trump White House.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed a close confidant to lead negotiations for the second stage of the ceasefire with Hamas, an official said on Wednesday.
US-born Ron Dermer is a Cabinet minister who is widely seen as Mr Netanyahu’s closest adviser.
He previously served as Israel’s ambassador to the US and is a former Republican activist with strong ties to the Trump White House.
Israel and Hamas have yet to negotiate a second and more difficult phase of the ceasefire, and the first ends in early March.
Palestinians and Arab countries have universally rejected US President Donald Trump’s proposal to remove the Palestinian population from the Gaza Strip and take over the territory.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi has reiterated his opposition to such a move, calling on the international community to support a reconstruction plan that will allow Palestinians to stay in their homeland.
Speaking in Madrid at a joint press conference with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, he said the reconstruction of Gaza must be implemented “without the transfer of the Palestinian people from their land to which they cling”.
Egypt and Jordan have rejected Mr Trump’s suggestion that they take in large numbers of Palestinian refugees.
Mr Sanchez also condemned Mr Trump’s proposal, saying it would be “immoral and contrary to international law and United Nations resolutions”, and have a destabilising effect on the region.
He and Mr el-Sissi also called for the revival of a peace process leading to a two-state solution to the conflict.
Later on Wednesday, Lebanese president Joseph Aoun told Mr Trump’s national security adviser that Israel must fully withdraw from the country.
In a phone call with US national security adviser Mike Waltz Mr Aoun insisted that Israeli forces withdraw from five strategic hilltops inside Lebanon.
Israel is keeping its forces on Lebanese soil even after a deadline spelled out in a US-brokered ceasefire agreement that ended the latest Israel-Hezbollah war.
Mr Aoun told Mr Waltz that a full Israeli pull-out from the five border hilltops would increase stability in the country’s south.
The statement from Mr Aoun’s office also said he asked the Trump administration to help speed up the release of Lebanese prisoners held in Israel.
Since the war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s attack on October 7 2023, more than 50,000 people have died in Gaza and Lebanon and nearly 70% of the buildings in Gaza have been devastated, according to health ministries in Gaza and Lebanon.
Around 1,200 people were killed in Israel during the October 7 attack.
Also on Wednesday, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said an Israeli drone strike on a car in a border village killed one person.
The strike in the village of Aita al-Shaab was the first since Israeli troops withdrew from southern border areas a day earlier as part of a US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
The agency also said Israeli troops opened fire on the Lebanese side of the border, injuring two people.
There was no immediate comment from Israel.
Meanwhile, Israeli military prosecutors have charged five soldiers with assault over an attack on a Palestinian detainee in which they sodomised him with a knife.
The military said attack in the Sde Teiman facility on July 5 2024 “caused severe physical injury to the detainee, including cracked ribs, a punctured lung and an inner rectal tear”.
It said the soldiers took the detainee to a separate area, blindfolded and handcuffed him and then assaulted him. It said the evidence for the attack is “extensive” and included footage from a security camera.
The five were among nine Israeli reservists arrested last July over the attack.
A defence lawyer at the time denied the allegations, saying the soldiers responded with force when the detainee attacked them.
Their arrest triggered angry protests by supporters demanding their release, including members of parliament and at least two government ministers.
Hardliners in Israel have called for harsh treatment of suspected Hamas fighters.
