Washington (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday. Meanwhile, Israeli officials are engaging in indirect discussions with Hamas aimed at securing a U.S.-brokered agreement for the release of Gaza hostages and a ceasefire.
This will be Netanyahu’s third visit to the White House since Trump resumed office in January. It comes after Trump’s recent directive last month for U.S. air strikes on Iran and the subsequent ceasefire that ended the 12-day Israel-Iran conflict.
What will Netanyahu and Trump discuss at the White House?
Israel hopes that its 12-day conflict with Iran will open up new diplomatic opportunities in the Middle East.
As reported by Reuters, Avi Dichter, an Israeli minister and member of Netanyahu’s security cabinet, anticipated that Trump’s meeting with the Israeli leader would extend beyond Gaza to potentially include discussions on normalising relations with Lebanon, Syria, and Saudi Arabia.
“I think it will first of all be focused on a term we have often used but now has real meaning: a new Middle East,”
He told Israel’s public broadcaster Kan on Monday.
Before the visit, Netanyahu informed reporters that he would thank Trump for the U.S. air strikes on Iranian nuclear sites and mentioned that Israeli negotiators were working towards a deal on Gaza in Doha, Qatar.
Could Trump’s ceasefire proposal end the Gaza war?
Additionally, Trump told reporters on Friday that it was encouraging that Hamas described its response to the U.S.-brokered 60-day Gaza ceasefire proposal as “positive” and mentioned that an agreement might be achieved this week.
Some of Netanyahu’s hardline coalition allies oppose ending the fighting, but as Israelis grow more exhausted with the 21-month-old war, his government is likely to support a ceasefire.
A ceasefire that began earlier this year ended in March, and efforts to renew it have so far failed. Meanwhile, Israel has stepped up its military operations in Gaza and significantly limited food aid.
When did the two leaders last meet?
On April 7, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office. During this meeting, they discussed several pressing issues. They discussed U.S. tariffs on Israeli goods, including a 17% levy that had been a point of contention between the two countries. The ongoing Gaza hostage crisis amid the 21-month war between Israel and Hamas, with Trump expressing his desire for a ceasefire and the release of hostages, and the broader context of the Middle East conflict, including recent joint U.S.-Israel strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.
