Netanyahu to meet Trump at White House as Israel, Hamas discuss ceasefire

WASHINGTON/TEL AVIV – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on July 7, while Israeli officials hold indirect talks with Hamas, aimed at a US-brokered Gaza hostage-release and ceasefire deal.

Mr Trump said on July 6 that

there was a good chance such a deal

could be reached this week. The right-wing Israeli leader said he believed his discussions with Mr Trump would help advance talks under way in Qatar between Israel and the Palestinian militant group.

It will be Mr Netanyahu’s third White House visit since Mr Trump returned to office in January, and follows the President’s decision in June to bomb Iranian nuclear sites in support of Israeli air strikes. Mr Trump then helped broker a ceasefire in the 12-day Israel-Iran war.

Mr Trump and his top aides appeared to be trying to seize on any momentum created by the weakening of Iran, which backs Hamas, to push both sides for a breakthrough in the 21-month Gaza war.

Mr Netanyahu, who arrived overnight in Washington, was scheduled to meet Mr Trump’s Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on July 7 in preparation for his talks with the President.

The two leaders were due to have a private dinner, listed by the White House as closed to the press, instead of formal talks in the Oval Office where Mr Trump has usually hosted Mr Netanyahu and other visiting dignitaries.

It was not immediately clear why Mr Trump was taking a lower-key approach with Mr Netanyahu this time. Israel is hoping that the outcome of its conflict with Iran will also pave the way for new diplomatic opportunities in the region.

Mr Avi Dichter, an Israeli minister and a member of Mr Netanyahu’s security Cabinet, said he expected Mr Trump’s meeting with the Israeli leader would go beyond Gaza to include the possibility of normalising ties 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 July 7.

Ahead of the visit, Mr Netanyahu told reporters he would thank Mr Trump for the US air strikes on Iranian nuclear sites and said Israeli negotiators were driving for a deal on Gaza in Doha, Qatar’s capital.

Israel and Hamas were set to hold a second day of indirect talks in Qatar on July 7. An Israeli official described the atmosphere so far at the Gaza talks, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, as positive. Palestinian officials said initial meetings on July 6 had ended inconclusively.

A second Israeli official said the issue of humanitarian aid had been discussed in Qatar, without providing further details.

The US-backed proposal for a 60-day ceasefire envisages a phased release of hostages, Israeli troop withdrawals from parts of Gaza and discussions on ending the war entirely.

Hamas has long demanded a final end to the war before it would free remaining hostages; Israel has insisted it would not agree to halt fighting until all hostages are free and Hamas dismantled.

Mr Trump told reporters on July 4 it was good that Hamas said it had responded in “a positive spirit” to a US-brokered 60-day Gaza ceasefire proposal, and noted that a deal could be reached this week.

Some of Mr Netanyahu’s hardline coalition partners oppose ending the fighting but, with Israelis having become increasingly weary of the 21-month-old war, his government is expected to back a ceasefire.

A ceasefire at the start of 2025 ended in March, and talks to revive it have so far been fruitless. Meanwhile, Israel has intensified its military campaign in Gaza and sharply restricted food distribution.

“God willing, a truce would take place,” Mr Mohammed Al Sawalheh, a 30-year-old Palestinian displaced from Jabalia in northern Gaza, told Reuters on July 6 after an Israeli air strike overnight.

“We cannot see a truce while people are dying. We want a truce that would stop this bloodshed.”

The Gaza war erupted when Hamas attacked southern Israel in October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. About 50 hostages remain in Gaza, with 20 believed to be alive.

Israel’s retaliatory war in Gaza has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry. Most of Gaza’s population has been displaced by the war, and nearly half a million people are facing famine within months, according to UN estimates.

Trump lashed out at Israeli prosecutors

Mr Trump has been strongly supportive of Mr Netanyahu,

even wading into domestic Israeli politics in June

by lashing out at prosecutors over a corruption trial against the Israeli leader on bribery, fraud and breach-of-trust charges Mr Netanyahu denies.

The US leader, who has faced his own legal troubles, argued last week that the judicial process would interfere with Mr Netanyahu’s ability to conduct talks with Hamas and Iran.

Mr Trump said he expected to discuss Iran and its nuclear ambitions with Mr Netanyahu, lauding the US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites as a tremendous success.

On July 4, he told reporters that he believed Tehran’s nuclear programme had been set back permanently, although Iran could restart efforts elsewhere.

Mr Trump insisted on July 4 that he would not allow Tehran to resume its nuclear programme, and said Tehran wanted to meet him. Iran has always denied seeking a nuclear weapon. REUTERS