A deadline to begin talks on extending Gaza’s ceasefire arrived Monday with the Israeli prime minister in Washington, silence from his office about when a negotiating team might engage with Hamas, and considerable uncertainty about what the next stage of the fragile truce will look like.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on his way to the United States to discuss the second phase of the ceasefire agreed with Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza, his office says. Negotiations for the second stage of the ceasefire are due to begin in Washington,