JERUSALEM — Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he expected to move into the second phase of the US-sponsored ceasefire plan for Gaza "very shortly".

 

Speaking during a joint press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz after a meeting between the two leaders, Netanyahu said: "We discussed how to bring an end to the Hamas rule in Gaza... We finished the first part.

 

"And then we very shortly expect to move into the second phase, which is more difficult."

 

Netanyahu also said that he would meet US President Donald Trump later this month to discuss "opportunities for peace" in the region.

 

Under the terms of the ceasefire that entered into force on October 10, Palestinian militants committed to releasing 47 living and dead captives seized during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

 

All of the hostages have so far been released except for the body of an Israeli police officer.

 

"And now we have a second phase, no less daunting, and that is to achieve the disarmament of Hamas and the demilitarisation of Gaza," Netanyahu added.

 

"There's a third phase, and that is to deradicalise Gaza, something that also people believed was impossible. But it was done in Germany, it was done in Japan, it's done in the Gulf states, can be done in Gaza too," the Israeli premier said.

 

Two months since its signing, the Gaza ceasefire remains fragile with both sides accusing each other of violating it.

 

Trump's plan has various stages: a truce, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and setting up a new administration for Gaza, and then finally the reconstruction of the vast areas levelled by Israel's retaliatory military campaign.

 

Merz arrived in Israel on Saturday evening, his first visit since taking office, and reaffirmed Berlin's support for Israel after traditionally solid ties between the two countries were shaken by the Gaza war.

 

Merz, who took power in May, has repeatedly criticised Israel's relentless military campaign.

 

During the joint press conference, Merz said criticism of Israel was "possible and sometimes perhaps even necessary".

 

"The relationship between Germany and Israel can withstand that. But criticism of the policies of the Israeli government must not be misused as a pretext for antisemitism," he added.

 

Meanwhile, Israel's military said Sunday that its forces killed two men in the occupied West Bank after what it described as an attempted ramming attack, with the Palestinian Authority identifying the deceased as a 17- and 55-year-old.

 

The Ramallah-based health ministry named the two victims as Ahmad Khalil Al Rajabi, 17, and Ziad Jabara Abu Dawoud, 55, after the incident on Saturday night in the Bab Al Zawiya area in the city of Hebron.

 

The older man was a sanitation worker, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

 

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and violence in the territory has soared since Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war.

 

Israeli troops or settlers have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures.

 

At least 44 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks or Israeli military operations, according to official Israeli figures.