US President Donald Trump is hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday amid ceasefire talks in Gaza.
The meeting comes as negotiations on the second phase of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, are set to begin.
Israel and Hamas have less than four weeks to agree on the terms of the second phase, which will include the release of all remaining hostages in Gaza, a permanent cessation of hostilities and Israel’s withdrawal from the territory.
“I have no guarantee that the peace will be sustainable,” Trump told reporters on Monday.
On the eve of his visit to the White House, Netanyahu met with US Middle East envoy Steve Vitkoff, who participated in reaching the ceasefire agreement.
In a statement, Netanyahu’s office said the meeting was “positive and friendly” and that the prime minister will meet with his security council upon his return from the United States to “discuss Israel’s overall position on the second phase of the agreement.”
It is expected that Vitkoff will hold talks with officials from Qatar and Egypt, as these countries continue to fulfill their role as mediators in the cessation of hostilities.
In addition to the ceasefire, Netanyahu said that he and Trump will discuss countering Iranian aggression and expanding diplomatic relations with Arab countries.
During his first term as president, Trump brokered normalization agreements between Israel and four Arab countries. Now he is seeking a broader agreement under which Israel would establish ties with Saudi Arabia.
But Saudi Arabia has said it will only agree to such a deal if the war in Gaza ends and there is a secure path to a Palestinian state in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the territories captured by Israel during the 1967 Middle East War.
The United States supports Palestinian statehood, but Netanyahu’s government opposes it.
Hamas has so far released 18 hostages, and Israel has released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
The war in Gaza began with an attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, during which Hamas militants killed 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages.
During the Israeli counteroffensive, more than 47,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, were killed in the 15 months of the war, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Authority. The Israeli Armed Forces claim that the death toll includes 17,000 killed militants.
