PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump plans to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday in what would be their second White House sit-down since Trump’s return to office.
The visit, confirmed by a White House official and Netanyahu’s office Saturday, comes as Israel deploys troops in a new security corridor across Gaza to pressure the Hamas militant group. Netanyahu’s defense minister has said Israel will seize large areas of the territory and add them to its so-called security zones.
Last month, Israel shattered the ceasefire with a surprise bombardment in Gaza after trying to pressure Hamas to accept proposed new terms for the ceasefire, a move supported by the White House. Hundreds of Palestinians have since been killed.
Israel has pledged to escalate the war in Gaza until Hamas returns the remaining hostages seized in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war, disarms and leaves the territory. Israel also has halted all supplies of food, fuel and humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Netanyahu’s office in a statement on social media said he and Trump would discuss “the tariff issue, the efforts to return our hostages, Israel-Turkey relations, the Iranian threat and the battle against the International Criminal Court.” Israel faces a 17% tariff.
Netanyahu is wanted by the court for alleged crimes against humanity in Gaza. The U.S. is not a member of the court.
In February, Netanyahu became the first foreign leader invited to the White House during Trump’s second term. Their meeting focused on Israel’s war with Hamas and the next steps as a ceasefire deal took hold.
At a joint news conference afterward, Trump made the surprise proposal that displaced Palestinians in Gaza be permanently resettled outside the territory and the United States take “ownership” in redeveloping the area into “the Riviera of the Middle East.” Palestinians objected to leaving their homeland, and Arab nations and rights groups sharply criticized the idea.
That February meeting gave Netanyahu a chance to remind the world of the Trump administration’s support for Israel, defend the conduct of the war and distract from political pressures back home.
Those pressures have only grown as Israelis protest both the lack of a deal to bring remaining hostages home from Gaza and Netanyahu’s moves to fire the head of the country’s domestic security agency and its attorney general. He also faces calls to accept responsibility for his role in failing to prevent the Oct. 7. attack.
In a statement Saturday, relatives of hostages held in Gaza pleaded with Trump to “please use all your power to pressure Netanyahu to end this war and bring our hostages back now.”
“We are addressing President Trump: Netanyahu is lying when he says that military pressure will bring back the abductees. The only way to quickly return all the abductees is to end the war and return them all in one fell swoop,” Ifat Calderon, aunt of hostage Ofer Calderon, said in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Hamas says it will only release the remaining 59 hostages — 24 of whom are believed to be alive — in exchange for the release of more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli pullout from Gaza.
The Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Some 251 hostages were taken, most of them since released in ceasefire agreements and other deals.
More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza as part of Israel’s offensive, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t say whether those killed are civilians or combatants. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Meanwhile, police arrested two of Netanyahu’s close associates this week on suspicion of accepting money from Qatar to promote a positive image of the Gulf Arab state in Israel. Qatar is a key mediator for Hamas in its negotiations with Israel but denies backing the militant group. Netanyahu says the case is baseless.
The prime minister is also the subject of a long-running corruption trial and regularly rails against a “deep state” that he alleges is out to get him.
Trump says the first foreign trip of his second administration will include stops in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and possibly the United Arab Emirates, and “other places.” The trip could come as soon as May. Trump has said he wants to reward Saudi Arabia for its investment in the U.S. and that all three Gulf countries would be making commitments to creating jobs in the U.S. during his trip.
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Associated Press writers Natalie Melzer in Jerusalem, Darlene Superville in Washington and Cara Anna contributed to this report.
