U.S. President Donald Trump hosts Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday to press the Israeli prime minister to end the war with Hamas in Gaza.
Trump has vowed to be tough on Netanyahu as he hopes to use the momentum from the truce between Iran and Israel to secure a ceasefire in the devastated Palestinian territory, too.
Trump says Israel is committed to a 60-day halt in fighting and Hamas says it has responded positively to a U.S.-backed proposal -- but sealing a final deal to end the 21-month-old war will be easier said than done.
Netanyahu, who is making his third visit to the White House since Trump returned to power in January, has vowed to crush Hamas before ending the conflict.
Yet Trump, determined to win the Nobel peace prize and riding a wave of recent foreign and domestic policy victories, is making a renewed push for a result.
"There could be a Gaza deal next week," Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Friday. He said he was "very optimistic" about a deal but added that "it changes from day to day. It's been changing for years."
In response to reports that Hamas had responded positively to proposed truce talks, Trump said "that's good," although he said he had not yet been fully briefed on this development.
Trump and Netanyahu were in lockstep during the recent Iran-Israel war, which culminated in the U.S. president ordering stealth bombers to strike three crucial Iranian nuclear sites.
Washington says the sites were "obliterated" and Iran's nuclear program put back years, although Iran has denied any significant setback. The West accuses Iran of seeking a nuclear bomb, which Tehran denies.
But on Gaza, Trump is showing signs of increasing unease with the death and destruction still happening as Israel wages the conflict triggered by a huge Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
"We have to get it over with. We have to do something about Gaza," Trump said on Friday.
Trump seems to have parked, for now, his extraordinary proposal for a U.S. takeover of Gaza that he floated during Netanyahu's first visit in February.
"I want the people of Gaza to be safe, more importantly," Trump said when asked about the plan earlier this week. "They've been through hell."
Trump has also pushed for the release of hostages held by Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups in Gaza. He met one released hostage, Edan Alexander, at the White House on Thursday.
But while the author of the book "Art of the Deal" prides himself on his negotiating skills, Trump in many ways has an equal in Netanyahu, a political survivor of his own ilk.
"I think we're going to see a strategic meeting in the style of 'grand bargaining', as Trump likes them," Michael Horowitz, an independent geopolitical analyst, told AFP.
"Even Mr Netanyahu is aware that we are reaching the end of what can be done in Gaza, and that it is time to plan an exit. Netanyahu surely wants it to be gradual."
Trump however will be pushing for something quicker and more comprehensive.
He boasted on the 2024 campaign trail that he would end both the war in Gaza and Russia's invasion shortly after taking office, but peace in both cases has eluded him so far.
Two previous Gaza ceasefires mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States secured temporary halts in fighting and the return of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, only to break down.
The Hamas attack of October 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 57,338 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.
© 2025 AFP
15 Comments
Yrral
Two snakes in viper den, should not be trusted
GuruMick
Netanyahu and his ultra right wing cabinet unlikely to shift even with Trump pressure.
The Israeli cabinet wants to retake Gaza and expel the Gazan people to who knows where.
These are Israeli messianic urges that are not part of any rational deal or aspect of negotiation Trump has dealt with before in life.
Then there is the Israeli lobby in the US, boosted by the Zionist Christians expecting the Second Coming.
But what spooks the Israelis?
Cutting of the arms support currently running into the millions from the USA.
Israel needs an "intervention " where a group of EU, UK and Arab states all confront the Israelis and say
"Change comes now "
Bob Fosse
“Yet Trump, determined to win the Nobel peace prize”
He doesn’t deserve it. And no, Obama didn’t deserve it either. Even Obama said so.
Guy_Gin_and_Tonic
Of course Trump pushing for peace. It’s hard to get rid of an entire population, bulldoze the buildings and set up Gaz-a-Lago when your best friend is still killing people there.
Tokyo Guy
So he has failed miserably to get Putin to stop attacking Ukraine (then again, he never had any intention to), so now he's turning to Netanyahu.
Outside his cult, there can't be many people who fail to see that he's as useless a "peacemaker" as he is everything else.
WoodyLee
Never trust BIBI and or his aid, this FOX will not stop the killings of Israeli's and Palestinians unless Mr. Trump guarantees his ticked out of Jail.
Blacklabel
I didn’t see Obama decline it or return it.
so can’t Trump get something he supposedly “doesn’t deserve” too?
Yrral
Blacklabel name something redemning about Trump or you have man crush
u_s__reamer
Trump's ego carries no weight with the Russian who wants a piece (of Ukraine) before he wants peace and, besides not "having the cards", Trump doesn't have "the moves" on the East-European geo-political chessboard in the game Putin is playing. With the Israelis he has all the cards (ordnance) and his ego will likely very soon force an end to the Israeli killing-spree that has horrified the world with their brazen display of calculated sadistic savagery against a helpless civilian population, the likes of which the world has never before seen with their own eyes.
Bob Fosse
You are not supposed to understand.
Capuchin
Trump's "Gaza-lago" proposal has only emboldened Israel's plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza. Any time Netanyahu or a member of his government want to talk about ethnic cleansing they simply refer to supporting Trump's plan.
This is a detail in the negotiations I have never seen reported in mainstream media. It's not about returning the hostages or eliminating Hamas. It's about Trumps "historic opportunity".
"According to the Hamas official, mediators have told the movement that Hamas must relinquish governance of Gaza as part of the deal, a term Hamas has long said it would agree to. In its own ceasefire proposal in May, Hamas itself included a commitment to hand over power "to an independent technical committee of Palestinians to administer all affairs in Gaza and to coordinate reconstruction." Each time Hamas has proposed this, Israel removed this term from its own revised drafts."
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/trump-netanyahu-hamas-united-states-israel-ceasefire
wallace
Trump should not "push"; he should "force" Netanyahu to the peace table, just like he should be doing with Putin.
Mickelicious
Don't hold your breath. Bloodthirsty Zionism is too big a profit centre for USA Inc. and Trump personally.
Cephus
Peace by all means.
bass4funk
Not the Gazan people, they want to eliminate Hamas once and for all and they should
A bit more in-depth than that.
Terrorism
That cut will never happen, fear not.
LOL!