US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reach to shake hands at a joint press conference in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, DC, US, Sept. 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet US President Donald Trump on Dec. 29 to discuss the next steps of the Gaza ceasefire, an Israeli government spokesperson said on Monday.

“The prime minister will meet with President Trump on Monday, Dec. 29. They will discuss the future steps and phases and the international stabilization force of the ceasefire plan,” Shosh Bedrosian said in an online briefing to reporters.

The prime minister’s office said on Dec. 1 that Trump had invited Netanyahu to the White House. Israeli media have since reported that the two leaders may meet in Florida.

The spokesperson’s comments came one day after Netanyahu said on Sunday that the second phase of a US plan to end the war in Gaza was close, but cautioned several key issues still needed to be resolved, including whether a multinational security force would be deployed.

Netanyahu, speaking to reporters alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Jerusalem, said that he would hold important discussions with Trump at the end of the month on how to ensure the plan‘s second phase was achieved.

Netanyahu said that he would discuss with Trump how to bring an end to Hamas rule in Gaza. A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is entering its second month, although both sides have repeatedly accused each other of violating the truce agreement.

Netanyahu said that it was important to ensure Hamas not only upholds the ceasefire but also follows through on “their commitment” to the plan to disarm and for Gaza to be demilitarized.

Israel retained control of 53% of Gaza under the first phase of Trump‘s plan, which involved the release of hostages held by terrorists in Gaza and of Palestinians, many convicted of terrorism, detained by Israel. The final hostage remains to be handed over are those of an Israeli police officer killed on Oct. 7, 2023, while fighting Hamas-led Gazan militants who had invaded Israel.

“We’ll get him out,” Netanyahu said.

Since the ceasefire started in October, the terrorist group has reestablished itself in the rest of Gaza.

GERMAN CHANCELLOR: PHASE TWO MUST COME NOW

According to the plan, Israel is to pull back further in the second phase as a transitional authority is established in Gaza and a multinational security force is deployed, Hamas is disarmed, and reconstruction begins.

A multinational coordination center has been established in Israel, but there are no deadlines in the plan and officials involved say that efforts to advance it have stalled.

“What will be the timeline? What are the forces that are coming in? Will we have international forces? If not, what are the alternatives? These are all topics that are being discussed,” Netanyahu said, describing them as central issues.

Merz said that Germany was willing to help rebuild Gaza but would wait for Netanyahu‘s meeting with Trump, and for clarity on what Washington was prepared to do, before Berlin decides what it would contribute but that phase two “must come now.”

Israel has repeatedly carried out air strikes since the ceasefire came into effect that it says are fending off attacks or destroying terrorist infrastructure.

NETANYAHU: WEST BANK ANNEXATION REMAINS A SUBJECT OF DISCUSSION

Netanyahu said that he would also discuss with Trump “opportunities for peace,” an apparent reference to US efforts for Israel to establish formal ties with Arab and Muslim states.

“We believe there’s a path to advance a broader peace with the Arab states, and a path also to establish a workable peace with our Palestinian neighbors,” Netanyahu said, asserting Israel would always insist on security control of the West Bank.

Trump has said he promised Muslim leaders that Israel would not annex the West Bank, where Netanyahu‘s government is backing the development of Jewish settlements.

The “question of political annexation” of the West Bank remains a subject of discussion, Netanyahu said.

Lebanese army members stand on a military vehicle during a Lebanese army media tour, to review the army’s operations in the southern Litani sector, in Alma Al-Shaab, near the border with Israel, southern Lebanon, Nov. 28, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Aziz Taher

The European Union is studying options for strengthening Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces to help free up the Lebanese army to focus on disarming the terrorist group Hezbollah, according to a document seen by Reuters on Monday.

A 2024 truce between Lebanon and Israel remains fragile, with Israel carrying out regular strikes on Lebanese territory that it says are targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah’s efforts to rearm.

The document, produced by the EU’s diplomatic arm and circulated to the 27 member states, said it would pursue consultations with Lebanese authorities and that a scoping mission would take place in early 2026 on possible new assistance for the country’s Internal Security Forces.

EU efforts could “focus on advice, training and capacity-building,” the paper said, adding that the bloc would not take over the tasks of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), whose mandate is set to expire at the end of 2026, when it is expected to begin a year-long drawdown and withdrawal.

Instead, the EU “could contribute to the gradual transfer of internal security tasks” from the Lebanese Armed Forces to the Internal Security Forces, allowing the army to focus on its core defense tasks, the document said.

The UN secretary general is expected to produce a transition plan in June 2026 that will address risks stemming from UNIFIL’s departure.

EU, LEBANESE OFFICIALS TO MEET NEXT WEEK

The paper from the European External Action Service comes ahead of a planned meeting between senior EU and Lebanese officials in Brussels on Dec. 15.

“Through a combination of advice, training and possibly the provision of certain equipment, the overall objective would be to enable the Police and the Gendarmerie to fulfil their mandates in cities and rural areas across the country,” it said, adding the EU could also help Lebanon to better secure its land border with Syria.

French President Emmanuel Macron’s special envoy on Lebanon, Jean-Yves Le Drian, was in Beirut on Monday to propose a roadmap that aims to assess independently Hezbollah’s disarmament, diplomatic sources said.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said last week that Lebanon wanted to see a ceasefire monitoring mechanism play a more robust role in verifying Israel’s claims that Hezbollah is rearming as well as the work of the Lebanese army in dismantling the armed group’s infrastructure.

Asked whether that meant Lebanon would accept US and French troops on the ground as part of a verification mechanism, Salam said, “of course.”

Smoke billows following an Israeli air strike in Sanaa, Yemen, Sept. 10, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

Yemen’s main southern separatist group claimed broad control across the south of the country on Monday, including in the port city of Aden which has served as the base of the Saudi-backed, internationally recognized government for a decade.

In an apparent major shift in power, the Southern Transitional Council said senior figures from other groups had left Aden, including the head of the eight-member body that acts in place of a president, and the prime minister.

The STC, which has been backed in the past by the United Arab Emirates during Yemen‘s decade-old civil war, has clashed with other groups in the Saudi-backed government which relocated to Aden after the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, an internationally designated terrorist group, captured the capital Sanaa in 2014.

Since 2022, the STC has served in an administration that controls southern areas outside the grip of the Houthis, under a Saudi-backed power-sharing initiative.

OPERATION ‘PROMISING FUTURE’

Senior STC official Amr al-Bidh told Reuters on Monday that the group had extended its presence in all southern provinces, including Aden, following a military operation codenamed “Promising Future” launched last week.

The eight southern governorates “are under the protection of the Southern Armed Forces,” he said by text message.

“We are concentrating on unifying the operational theater of our armed forces to enhance coordination and readiness to reinforce stability and security in the south, as well as combatting the Houthis should there be a willingness to head in this direction.”

Al-Bidh said Rashad al-Alimi, head of the Presidential Leadership Council which replaced the office of president in 2022, had left Aden, as had Prime Minister Salem Saleh Bin Braik, though al-Bidh said the STC had not ordered them to go.

“The institutional makeup remains unchanged,” al-Bidh said.

Presidential Council head al-Alimi, who briefed diplomats in Riyadh on Sunday, said in a statement on Monday that the STC’s actions across the south “undermine the legitimacy of the internationally recognized government” and violate power-sharing agreements.

The STC’s advance marks a major shift in control in southern Yemen. The group seeks greater autonomy for the south, which was an independent state until unification with the north in 1990.

The STC had participated under al-Alimi as part of the Presidential Leadership Council under the Saudi-led initiative to unify anti-Houthi factions. Tensions have persisted over control of territory and forces.

A UAE official told Reuters on Monday that the country’s position on Yemen “is in line with Saudi Arabia in supporting a political process” based on Gulf-backed initiatives and UN resolutions. The official did not directly address the STC’s moves in southern Yemen.

There was no word from Saudi Arabia, where the government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Al-Bidh said the STC reported limited resistance as Saudi-backed forces pulled back. Among provinces where the STC had advanced were Hadramout and Al-Mahra, which border Oman and Saudi Arabia and are key to trade and smuggling routes.

Clashes occurred in Wadi Hadramout, while in Al-Mahra, local forces coordinated with the STC and there were no clashes, al-Bidh said.

Another senior STC official said the group took control of Hadramout within 48 hours of launching the operation last week. He added Saudi forces withdrew from Perim Island in the Mandeb Strait, handing control to the STC, and had left positions at the presidential palace in Aden.

Yemen‘s civil war reached a stalemate in 2022. Recent calm had raised hopes of peace between the Houthis, who control most populated areas in the north, and the Saudi-backed government in the south.