Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that he hopes to reach peace deals with more Arab countries and continue the process he went through a few years ago once the war in Gaza and Lebanon is over as the yearlong military campaign enters a new phase with a fresh round of truce talks.
"The day after Hamas no longer controls Gaza and Hezbollah no longer sits on our northern border, we are working these days on plans to stabilize those two fronts. But the day after includes something else of utmost importance," Netanyahu said in a speech to parliament.
"I aspire to continue the process I led a few years ago of the signing of the historic Abraham Accords, and achieve peace with more Arab countries," he said.
Israel, under the U.S.-brokered 2020 accords, normalized relations with four Arab countries – the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.
Since then, Israel, with U.S. support, has sought to also include other nations, particularly Saudi Arabia. Riyadh says it will not recognize Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state.
"I emphasize peace for peace, peace out of strength with important countries in the Middle East," Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted Netanyahu as saying on Monday.
"These countries, and other countries, see clearly the blows we are landing on those who attack us, the Iranian axis of evil," he said.
"They aspire, like us, for a stable, secure and prosperous Middle East."
The Abraham Accords were reached under the administration of then-president Donald Trump, who is seeking a return to the White House.
The United States, Israel's main backer, has long sought to broker an eventual agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel, which would entail U.S. security guarantees for the kingdom.
Washington has hoped to give an incentive to Netanyahu to stop the war and gain a powerful Arab ally, the guardian of Islam's two holiest sites.
Riyadh, however, has conditioned any such agreement on the recognition of an independent Palestinian state – a prospect rejected by Israel.
Saudi Arabia did not join the 2020 deals and has never recognized Israel.
An agreement had nevertheless seemed closer last year, before the Hamas' Oct. 7 attack. Since then Israel ramped up attacks on Gaza, killing at least 43,000 Palestinians.
Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken sought to make headway with Saudi Arabia on normalization with Israel.
The top U.S. diplomat flew directly from Tel Aviv in Israel to the Saudi capital Riyadh, on a tour of the Middle East days before the U.S. election.
"There remains, despite everything that's happened, an incredible opportunity in this region to move in a totally different direction," Blinken said minutes before he left Israel.
"Saudi Arabia would be right at the heart of that, and that includes potentially normalization of relations with Israel."
Israel separately said on Monday the head of the Mossad spy agency had returned from talks in Doha with his CIA counterpart and the Qatari premier, where they discussed a new "framework" for a Gaza hostage release deal.
"The sides discussed a new unified framework that integrates previous proposals and also takes into account the main issues and recent developments in the region," the office of Netanyahu said in a statement.
"In the coming days, discussions will continue between the mediators and Hamas to assess the feasibility of talks and to further efforts to promote a deal," it added.
Mediators include Qatar, the United States and Egypt, whose President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi on Sunday unveiled a proposal for a two-day truce in Israel's war on Gaza that would include a hostage release deal.
Outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden meanwhile said Monday that Israel's war in Gaza "should end," adding that he was renewing efforts for a cease-fire after Egypt proposed a two-day truce.
"We need a cease-fire. We should end this war. It should end, it should end, it should end," Biden told reporters after casting his early vote in the U.S. presidential election.
