Netanyahu to visit White House as Gaza truce pressure mounts

WASHINGTON: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the White House next week for talks with President Donald Trump, a US official said Monday, as Washington ramps up the pressure for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The July 7 visit — Netanyahu’s third since Trump returned to power in January — comes after Trump said that he hoped for a truce in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory within a week.

A Trump administration official confirmed the visit to AFP on condition of anonymity.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said earlier that Netanyahu had “expressed interest” in a meeting with Trump and that both sides were “working on a date.

“This has been a priority for the president since he took office, to end this brutal war in Gaza,” Leavitt told reporters in a briefing.

A senior Israeli official, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, is due to visit the White House this week for talks to lay the ground for Netanyahu’s visit, Leavitt said.

Netanyahu became the first foreign leader to visit Trump in his second term in February, when the US president surprised him by suddenly announcing a plan for the United States to “take over” Gaza.

The Israeli premier visited again in April.

The end of Israel’s 12-day war with Iran has provided a window of opportunity for a deal, with Trump keen to add another peace agreement to a series of recent deals he has brokered.

“We think even next week, we’re going to get a ceasefire,” Trump told reporters on Friday. He followed up by pressing Israel in a post on his Truth Social network on Sunday to “make the deal in Gaza”.

But on the ground, Israel has continued to pursue its offensive across the Palestinian territory.

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 51 people on Monday, including 24 at a seafront rest area.

Trump meanwhile appeared to leverage US aid to Israel at the weekend as he called for that country’s prosecutors to drop corruption charges against Netanyahu.

“The United States of America spends Billions of Dollar a year, far more than on any other Nation, protecting and supporting Israel. We are not going to stand for this,” Trump posted.

The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Palestinian militants seized 251 hostages during the attack. Of these, 49 are still believed to be held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s campaign has killed at least 56,531 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the territory’s health ministry, verified by the United Nations to be reliable.