Netanyahu: Iran war shifted region
Top-level cabinet meeting held amid US pressure on Israel to reach a Gaza deal.
(THE TIMES OF ISRAE) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel’s operation against Iran has opened up “broad regional possibilities”, while stressing that freedom for hostages remains a top priority.
“First of all, [we need] to free the hostages,” he said during a visit to a Shin Bet facility in southern Israel. “Of course, we will also have to solve the Gaza issue, to defeat Hamas, but I believe that we will achieve both tasks.”
His comments were broadly interpreted in local media as prioritising a deal to return the 50 remaining captives in Gaza above all else, as Israel faces mounting US pressure to reach a deal to end the war. It comes amid reported plans by Washington for sweeping regional agreements aimed at normalising relations between Israel and its neighbours — particularly Saudi Arabia and Syria.
The prime minister led a high-level cabinet meeting on Sunday night at the IDF’s Southern Command Headquarters in Be’er Sheva to discuss the Gaza war and hostage deal efforts. Defence Minister Israel Katz, other ministers, Netanyahu’s aides, and senior IDF officers attended the meeting.
Hebrew media outlets reported that the meeting ended without a decision, with further discussions scheduled for Monday.
Arab mediators had hoped Israel would agree to send a delegation to Cairo during the meeting, an Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel.
On Monday, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer was set to meet with US officials in Washington to align positions ahead of another round of indirect talks in Cairo, according to a diplomat and a US official familiar with the matter.
Dermer is expected to face pressure from the Trump administration to end the war in Gaza, sources said.
Remaining sticking points include Hamas’s demand for a permanent end to the war — in contrast to Israel’s goal of a temporary ceasefire that preserves its ability to resume fighting.
Hamas, backed by Arab mediators, is also pushing for a return to old mechanisms for distributing humanitarian aid or the creation of a new system to replace the current one managed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
Israel says the GHF is essential to prevent Hamas from diverting aid, but the US- and Israeli-backed system has forced Gazans to travel long distances for food, crossing IDF lines and often facing deadly fire.
Mediators had pushed Israel to send a delegation to Doha earlier this month to discuss a bridging proposal developed by Qatar and Egypt, which aimed to merge US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s offer with Hamas’s response. The delegation was expected to arrive on 13 June — but Israel’s launch of its first strike against Iran that morning put negotiations on hold.
Netanyahu is also believed to be planning a visit to the US in the coming fortnight to advance diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the war and expanding normalisation with Muslim-majority countries.
According to IDF sources quoted by Channel 12 on Saturday, the military is looking to wrap up its ground operation in Gaza, assessing that little more can be achieved without risking the lives of the remaining hostages.
The US is widely reported to be urging Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire, with Trump raising expectations on Friday by predicting a hostage-ceasefire deal could be reached within a week.
Early Sunday, Trump posted on Truth Social: “MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!”
The message came hours after he called for Israeli prosecutors to drop the case against Netanyahu, writing: “He is right now in the process of negotiating a Deal with Hamas, which will include getting the Hostages back.”
Expanding the Abraham Accords
Alongside renewed pressure to secure a ceasefire-hostage deal, Trump is reportedly seeking to expand the Abraham Accords to include Syria, Saudi Arabia, and others.
In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Trump echoed Netanyahu’s optimism about regional prospects, saying more countries will seek peace with Israel following the US-Israel campaign against Iran.
“We have some really great countries in there right now,” Trump said. “And I think we’re going to start loading them up because Iran was the primary problem. I actually thought Iran would… we had a period of time where I thought Iran would join the Abraham Accords along with everybody else.”
US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack said the 12-day operation had opened the way to a “new road” for the Middle East, with Turkey playing a key role.
“What just happened between Israel and Iran is an opportunity for all of us to say: Time out. Let’s create a new road, [and] Turkey is key in that new road,” Barrack, who is also the US special envoy to Syria, told Turkey’s Anadolu Agency.
Amid reported indirect talks between Israel and Syria, American rabbi Abraham Cooper — who recently met Syria’s Islamist leader Ahmed al-Sharaa — told Kan News a meeting between Netanyahu and Syria’s new president was possible with Trump’s backing.
“If Trump signals that he is going to stay involved and tells Sharaa, I am going to help rehabilitate your country, then anything is possible. Without that, it will go slowly, step by step,” Cooper said.
A Syrian official told Kan that “the Americans are a key factor” in the ongoing dialogue between Israeli and Syrian negotiators.
The official said talks have so far focused on the withdrawal of IDF troops from a buffer zone established in southern Syria after the fall of president Bashar al-Assad. Syria has not raised the issue of the Golan Heights — captured by Israel during the 1967 Six Day War — which was previously a precondition for peace under Assad.
The official added that “the contact between Israel and Syria could be very meaningful”, and noted that the current Syrian government is opposed to Iran and its proxy groups, Hezbollah and Hamas.
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