CGTN Europe spoke to Yossi Mekelberg, Associate fellow with the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House
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00:00Now Yossi Mechelberg is an associate fellow at Chatham House's Middle East and North Africa program and he joins us now.
00:07Yossi, hello and I want to get on to the business deals and the significance of that.
00:11But let's focus on what we're hearing, unconfirmed reports that the Hamas leader may have been killed.
00:18Talk to us about what is, in your view, happening in the region right now.
00:23It does seem like Israel is going full speed ahead with what it wants to do.
00:30Good afternoon. Thank you for having me.
00:32It seems like this and it doesn't come as a surprise as such because the Israelis said all along that they tried to eliminate Hamas.
00:41And only in recent weeks, the cabinet in Israel passed a decision in which to actually accelerate and escalate the situation in Gaza
00:52with the assumption that it would happen after President Trump leaves the region.
00:58The many reservists have been drafted, mobilized to this effect.
01:03And this is part of it.
01:05Whether it is the case that they managed to target Mohamed Sinwar or not remains to be seen.
01:13But also what would the implication of this in terms of a ceasefire?
01:18What we see is that there is some effort by the United States, whether the visits by Stephen Witkoff and Adam Bowler in Doha,
01:30the kind of statements that come from Trump to advance the ceasefire.
01:34But the question is if they can also convince the Israeli government to play ball.
01:39Yeah, and that's really interesting, the fact that Donald Trump is not going to visit Israel.
01:45Yes, his envoys are there, but he is not planning to go.
01:48Is that significant for you?
01:50It is very significant because Israel and the United States, as we know, are very close allies.
01:56But at the same time, I think the center of gravity is changing towards the Gulf and definitely towards Saudi Arabia.
02:05I think President Trump and the current administration,
02:09A, they are getting frustrated with what's happening in Gaza,
02:12the inability to reach a ceasefire, to end the crisis with the hostages,
02:17to allow more humanitarian aid to get.
02:20And the fear that if Israel actually renew its assault on Gaza,
02:25it will end with many, many thousands of innocent people killed.
02:30At the same time, you know, the importance from an economic point of view,
02:35dealing, for instance, with nuclear, dealing with security agreement with Saudi Arabia,
02:43to look at the changing landscape in Syria and Lebanon.
02:46This is American interest.
02:48And if Israel is entrenched in its wish to continue the war,
02:52then there will be a shift in Trump's approach.