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Netanyahu Gears Up for Critical Discussions With Trump in Washington on Gaza, Iran, Saudi Relations
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with US President Donald Trump during a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, Sept. 15, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Tom Brenner
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has landed in Washington, DC ahead of a planned series of discussions with US President Donald Trump and other top American officials, as he is set to become the first foreign leader to visit the White House since Trump’s inauguration last month.
“I’m leaving for a very important meeting with President Trump in Washington,” he said in a statement. “The fact that this would be President Trump’s first meeting with a foreign leader since his inauguration is telling. 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.”
The Israeli premier listed “victory over Hamas, achieving the release of all our hostages, and dealing with the Iranian terror axis in all its components” as being among the “very important issues” he expected to discuss.
Trump used similar language to discuss the significance of their meeting.
“The discussions on the Middle East with Israel and various and sundry other countries are progressing,” Trump told reporters on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Sunday. “Bibi Netanyahu’s coming on Tuesday, and I think we have some very big meetings scheduled.”
Before meeting Trump on Tuesday, Netanyahu was slated to hold a Monday meeting with US Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, during which the two men were expected to hammer out details of the second phase of Israel’s ceasefire with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
Under phase one of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release deal reached last month, Hamas will, over six weeks, free a total of 33 Israeli hostages, eight of whom are deceased, and in exchange, Israel will release over 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, many of whom are serving multiple life sentences for terrorist activity. Meanwhile, fighting in Gaza will stop as negotiators work on agreeing to a second phase of the agreement, which is expected to include Hamas releasing all remaining hostages held in Gaza and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the enclave.
Observers expect Netanyahu to press for an extension of the first phase of the ceasefire — meaning, the continuation of the release of three to four Israeli hostages every week — which would buy Israel more time to negotiate the freedom of its citizens without having to vacate troops from Gaza.
Netanyahu and Trump are also expected to discuss the second phase of the ceasefire deal during their sit-down on Tuesday. Trump is expected to push Netanyahu to accept concessions to end the war against Hamas, which could include the removal of Israeli troops from the Philadelphi Corridor separating Gaza from Egypt — a route that Hamas has used in the past to smuggle weapons into Gaza.
In addition, Trump and Netanyahu are likely to discuss the potential of normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia shelved normalization discussions with Israel as a result of the war in Gaza, accusing the Jewish state of committing “genocide.”
Recently, however, Riyadh has softened its position, indicating that any normalization agreement with Israel would need to include a pathway to the formation of a Palestinian state. A permanent end to the war in Gaza could open the possibility of strengthening and expanding the Abraham Accords, a series of historic, US-brokered normalization agreements between Israel and several countries in the Arab world during the first Trump administration.
However, many lawmakers within Israel’s parliament oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state at this time, arguing such a proposal would both reward terrorism and create a launching pad for attacks on the Jewish state’s borders. Moreover, Netanyahu faces immense pressure from within his right-wing voting base and governing coalition inside Israel to resume the war against Hamas, which started the conflict with its invasion of the Jewish state on Oct. 7, 2023.
Another topic of conversation between Netanyahu and US officials will likely be Iran, particularly how to contain its nuclear program and combat its support for terrorist proxies across the Middle East. In recent weeks, many analysts have raised questions over whether Trump would support an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, which both Washington and Jerusalem fear are meant to ultimately develop nuclear weapons.
This week’s trip marks Netanyahu’s first visit to Washington since last summer, in which the prime minister delivered a speech to a joint session of the US Congress. A large number of Democratic lawmakers, including presidential nominee Kamala Harris and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, skipped Netanyahu’s speech.
When departing for the US on Sunday, Netanyahu expressed optimism about his upcoming meeting with Trump.
“I believe that we can strengthen security, broaden the circle of peace, and achieve a remarkable era of peace through strength,” Netanyahu said.
The post Netanyahu Gears Up for Critical Discussions With Trump in Washington on Gaza, Iran, Saudi Relations first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.