Israel has promised to restart hostage release negotiations with Hamas this week after pressure from Donald Trump’s envoy.

Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s foreign minister, confirmed to a press conference in Jerusalem on Tuesday that phase two talks would resume imminently following a delay of roughly a fortnight.

It came after an intervention by Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy to the Middle East, on Monday, which marked 500 days since Oct 7, in which he said that negotiations for the next stage of the deal were “absolutely going to begin”.

This has prompted suggestions in Israel that Benjamin Netanyahu’s hand was effectively forced by the US administration.

The prime minister has faced repeated accusations that continuing the war is a higher priority for him than securing the release of the hostages.

Technically, discussions for the deal’s second phase should have begun two weeks ago, around the time of Mr Netanyahu’s visit to the White House, during which Mr Trump announced his “Middle East Riviera” vision, which would involve the displacement of Palestinian civilians.