Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with President Donald Trump on Tuesday amid an ongoing ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
During the ceasefire, Israel has handed over hundreds of prisoners in exchange for some of the hostages Hamas has held captive since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack.
The meeting is the first face-to-face meeting between President Trump and Netanyahu since Trump returned to power last month. Netanyahu is also the first foreign leader to visit the White House since President Trump returned to office.
“The fact that this would be President Trump's first meeting with a foreign leader since his inauguration is telling,” Netanyahu said. “I think it's a testimony to the strength of the Israeli-American alliance. It's also a testimony to the strength of our personal friendship. That friendship and that cooperation has already yielded important results for Israel and the Middle East.”
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Netanyahu laid out several goals for the meeting before heading to Washington.
“In this meeting, we'll deal with important issues, critical issues facing Israel and our region, a victory over Hamas, achieving the release of all our hostages, and dealing with the Iranian terror axis and all its components, an axis that threatens the peace of Israel, the Middle East, and the entire world. And the decisions we made in the war have already changed the face of the Middle East,” Netanyahu said.
Both the outgoing Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration played a role in the negotiations that led to a ceasefire.
Steve Witkoff, President Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, worked closely alongside former President Joe Biden's special envoy to the region to help negotiate the ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
“The ceasefire was extended because of the work of President Trump and his presidential envoy Steve Witkoff, who has proven to be an incredibly effective negotiator, and the president and this entire administration are committed to having all of the hostages come home, and as you've seen, his team is working very, very hard to do that,” said Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary.
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