00:00This week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be coming here to the White House to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump
00:07to discuss, among many things, a crucial ceasefire for Gaza that has been absolutely devastated by 21 months of war.
00:16I've been speaking to Israeli officials, people who are briefed on the talks, Hamas and also civilians on the ground in Gaza,
00:22and it looks like for the first time in months there is some cautious optimism that these talks might actually go somewhere.
00:30But the biggest sticking point will be whether this is discussions over just a temporary ceasefire deal,
00:34whether this is the beginning of the end of the war.
00:37I'm speaking to civilians on the ground in Gaza and they're telling me that they cannot, they cannot deal with this a moment longer.
00:44Many of them have been displaced multiple times, their homes have been destroyed, they've lost dozens of family members,
00:49they are scraping together to try and find any little amount of foos, and the conditions are becoming beyond catastrophic.
00:56So the pressure is on for this visit. There will be a lot of pressure from the White House or Netanyahu to push forward with the deal.
01:04Mediators are already gathering in Qatar, I've been told. They're already looking at some of the wording of the proposal.
01:10And people in Israel and also in Gaza are also calling for this. So we'll have to see where this plays out.
01:16But certainly for the first time people are talking about a cautious optimism and hope for the end of this devastating conflict.
01:26So we'll have to see where this plays out.
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