Jordana Miller, ABC News correspondent Interview

Jordana Miller talks with Mendte in the Morning about Netanyahu’s scheduled meeting with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago and what could result from the visit.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Later this month, on December twenty ninth, Benjamin NETANYAHUO is
going to be traveling to America to meet with Donald Trump.
In the meantime, they are ending phase one of the
peace plan. Let's talk to that. Let's talk about that
with Jordana Miller, ABC News correspondent in Jerusalem. Well, it's

(00:21):
morning here, Good morning to your Jordana, and Jordana tell
us where we are right now in getting through phase
one here, it's close to the end.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
We are close to the end, Larry, because there's really
only one Israeli hostage body left in the Gaza Strip.
All the others have been returned. As you know, those
twenty living hostages came out, which by the way, still
feels like a miracle to many Israelis. And the searches
are going on in Gaza City, Hamas and the Red

(00:56):
Cross and others looking and you know, part of central
and northern Gaza for that last Israeli he was a
policeman on October seventh, ron Kvili. He was actually injured
and not like on duty, but like many Israelis, ran
down to the south to try to help and defend

(01:16):
one of the communities there and he was killed in
a firefight with Hamas. So once his body comes back,
and Israel is a pretty confident that they're going that
Hamas is going to be able to find the body.
So far, the Israeli intel on the bodies, you've seen
almost all of them come out except Ron, So that's

(01:38):
good news. Once that body comes back, that is the
completion of phase one, right, which was supposed to happen
in the first seventy two hours, but everybody knew it
would take several weeks to get all the bodies. Now
now you know, the Israeli Prime Minister says he's coming
to mar al Ago right to see the President then

(02:00):
on December twenty ninth, and they are going to discuss
moving into Phase two. And Phase two is really the
critical phase. I think it's where President Trump's peace plan
for Gaza either you know, lives or dies, right, because
these are the major issues that will set down and

(02:23):
create a new reality for Gaza if they achieve right,
if they reach the goals and some of them, you know,
just to lay out what we're looking at in phase two,
it's everything from Hamas disarming right, which is a big issue,
to getting that international stabilization Force into the Gaza strip,

(02:45):
what's their mandate, you know, what's their command chain like?
And who makes up that stabilization force and setting up
a new police force which will also replace hamas. Right,
and then of course the governing body, right, this technocratic
government that's supposed to be set up without any Hamas

(03:06):
representation and overseen by this East Board right where President
Trump will be in the United States will lead overseeing this.
I mean, these are huge, huge issues that will take
I think several months to sort out. And one of
the big questions is, you know, are there going to
be pieces of all of these bigger issues that get

(03:29):
implemented at the same time or are they going to
focus on one issue at a time. And it looks
like it's going to be the former option. Right. All
the pieces are moving and we may see you know,
some part of the police force come in before the
governing Council. Right. It looks like the President is trying

(03:50):
to get you know, whatever is ready to go, he
wants to implement it, and he's not necessarily creating an
order or a priority or hierarchy. Of course, the most
thorny issue will be disarming Hamas and We've heard really
contradictory statements coming out of Hamas, right, some leaders saying

(04:11):
we're not going to give up our arms, We'll never
give up resistance. For example, that's what Colin Mischall, one
of Hamas's senior leaders, said over the weekend. And then
in a the AP was reporting from their visit with
another top HAMAS leader in Doha that they're willing to
freeze or hold their arms for perhaps up to ten

(04:34):
years in a kind of ceasefire. So what we'll have
to see, there's a lot of work for the Americans, right,
for President Trump's team, for the Israelis and regional partners,
and only the beginning of this will start in late
December and mar A Lago.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
Wait, now, the Hamas thing is a big deal, not disarming.
Can anything else happen if they don't agree to disarm.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
Right, Well, that's really a terrific point, right, It's hard
to see. And this is what even you know generals
will tell me, you know, behind closed doors, right really
on background, which is that there's a growing assessment really
that nobody is going to come into the Gaza strip,

(05:22):
not a police force, not a not a stabilization force,
not a new government until Hamas has been defamed, right,
because they don't want they don't want their people being
killed by Hamas. Right. So a lot of President Trump's
plan hinges on Hamas disarming. So that's going to be

(05:44):
a really critical issue. And if they you know, and
the other question is how long is President Trump going
to give Hamas to start that process? Three months, six months,
nine months? And the Israelis are saying, hey, Hamas is,
you know, clearly trying to take back the streets of Gaza.

(06:04):
They're killing people like their their rival militia's They killed
the head of you know, the Abu Shabab of militia
that is anti Hamas long before the war and worked
with the Israelis. They killed him, he was the head
of this militia. And they're killing other people, right, and
they're trying to take control back. So the Israelis are arguing,

(06:27):
we need to we need to fast track Hamas is disarming,
that the process to disarm Hamas. We need to set
up the mechanism we need to begin because otherwise, you know,
Hamas is going to be back in control of that
other fifty.

Speaker 1 (06:44):
I think that's what everybody's concerned about your Dana. We
have to check in with you again to find out
how things are going your Dana Miller, ABC News correspondent
in Jerusalem. You're the best. Thank you, Thanks, I'll talk
to you soon