Trump to push Netanyahu on Gaza peace plan at White House

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday for high-stakes talks aimed at pushing an elusive Gaza peace plan over the line.

Trump says a deal to end the nearly two-year war in Gaza, free hostages held by Hamas and disarm the Palestinian militant group is effectively done following talks with Arab and Muslim leaders last week.

He teased a possible breakthrough on Sunday, posting on his Truth Social network: “ALL ARE ON BOARD FOR SOMETHING SPECIAL, FIRST TIME EVER. WE WILL GET IT DONE!!!”

However, Netanyahu has given little reason for optimism in recent days.

He vowed in a UN address on Friday to “finish the job” against Hamas and promised to block a Palestinian state that key Western nations recently recognized.

It will be Netanyahu’s fourth visit to the White House since Trump returned to power in January, as the US president struggles to end a conflict, he said he could solve in days.

Normally a staunch ally of Netanyahu, Trump has shown signs of frustration.

He warned Netanyahu last week against annexing the occupied West Bank, as some of Netanyahu’s cabinet members have urged, and also opposed Israel’s recent strike on Hamas members in key US ally Qatar.

Families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza urged Trump to uphold his proposed Gaza ceasefire deal.

“We respectfully ask you to stand firm against any attempts to sabotage the deal you have brought forth,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum wrote in an open letter to Trump.

“The stakes are too high, and our families have waited too long for any interference to derail this progress.”

The outcome of the meeting was likely to depend on how much pressure Trump was willing to put on Netanyahu to accept a deal on which both Israel and Hamas are still not sold, said Natan Sachs, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute.

“Netanyahu has a clear preference for continuing the war and defeating Hamas, but I don’t think it’s impossible for Trump to convince him otherwise,” Sachs told AFP.

“It would need a lot of pressure from Trump and a very clear and sustained strategy.”

The two leaders will hold a news conference at 1:15 pm US eastern time (1715 GMT) on Monday.

Trump sounded increasingly optimistic last week about the prospects of a deal after meeting Arab and Muslim-majority leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

A reported 21-point, US-led deal has begun to take shape in recent days that would include the disarmament of Hamas, the release of all hostages and a ceasefire.

Former British prime minister Tony Blair was floated in some media reports as a possible leader of a transitional authority for Gaza under the US proposals.

The body, known as the “Gaza International Transitional Authority”, would operate with the support of the UN and Gulf nations before eventually handing control to a reformed Palestinian Authority (PA).

Netanyahu, during his UN speech, firmly rejected the idea of the Ramallah-based PA having a role in governing Gaza, which it did until Hamas seized power in 2007.

He expressed deep skepticism on Sunday that the PA could be reformed.

“I think that the credibility or the likelihood of… a reformed Palestinian Authority that changes completely its stripes, that accepts a Jewish state, that teaches its children to embrace the coexistence and friendship with the Jewish state, rather than living their lives in order to annihilate it… well, good luck,” he told Fox News.