Hello and welcome to Newsar from the BBC World Service.

Coming to you live from our studios in central London.

I'm Julian Marshall.

So far, so good.

The ceasefire agreement reached between Israel and Hamas last month is largely holding,

while the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners

is proceeding with only a few hitches. The releases have been staggered with 18 hostages

let go by Hamas and busloads of Palestinian prisoners released by Israel,

while hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been returning to what were once their homes in what is now the wasteland of Gaza.

In addition, aid into Gaza has been resumed.

This phase of the agreement, which began on January the 19th, is meant to last six weeks,

but negotiations on phase two are meant to start tomorrow.

Except that negotiator Qatar says there are no clear plans to do so at the moment.

But Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is off to Washington to begin talks on the second phase with President Trump.

Here's what he had to say earlier today just before

taking off for Washington. I'm leaving for a very important meeting with President Trump in

Washington. The fact that this would be President Trump's first meeting with a foreign leader

since his inauguration is telling. We'll deal with important issues, critical issues facing Israel and our region.

A victory over Hamas, achieving the release of all our hostages,

and dealing with the Iranian terror axis and all its components.

I believe that we can strengthen security, broaden the circle of peace, and achieve a remarkable

era of peace to spend.

...