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30-01-2025
JERUSALEM/ WASHINGTON: Benjamin Netanyahu has been invited to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House next week, the Israeli prime minister’s office has said.
The visit, yet to be confirmed by the Trump administration, is set to take place on 4 February.
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that the Israeli PM is the first foreign leader to be invited to the White House during Trump’s second term.
On Monday, while onboard Air Force One, Trump said Netanyahu would be travelling to Washington to meet him “very soon”, without giving a specific date.
The meeting comes as a six-week ceasefire is being observed in Gaza after a deal was struck between Israel and Hamas to halt the war.
Trump claimed credit for getting the ceasefire deal over the line when it was first announced, saying on Truth Social the “epic” agreement was possible only because he won November’s presidential election.
The White House meeting would also come after Trump said last week that he wanted Egypt and Jordan to take in Palestinians from Gaza, after describing the strip as a “demolition site”.
Both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority condemned the proposal. Jordan and Egypt have also rejected the idea.
However, the idea of encouraging Gazans to relocate to neighboring countries has long been pushed by hardline right-wing members of Netanyahu’s government.
The January ceasefire deal has paused the war which began when Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 back to Gaza as hostages.
More than 47,200 Palestinians, the majority civilians, have been killed in Israel’s subsequent offensive, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says.
US President Donald Trump has said he wants Egypt and Jordan to take in Palestinians from Gaza.
Trump said he had made the request to Jordan’s King Abdullah and planned to ask Egypt’s president on Sunday, too.
Describing Gaza as a “demolition site”, Trump said: “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing”. He added that the move “could be temporary” or “could be long-term”.
Both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority condemned the proposal. Jordan and Egypt have also rejected the idea.
A ceasefire is being observed in Gaza after a deal between Israel and Hamas to halt the war which began when Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023. About 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken back to Gaza as hostages.
More than 47,200 Palestinians, the majority civilians, have been killed in Israel’s offensive, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says.
Most of Gaza’s two million residents have been displaced in the past 15 months of the war, which has flattened much of Gaza’s infrastructure.
The United Nations has previously estimated that 60% of structures across Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, and it could take decades to rebuild.
Trump made his comments while speaking to reporters on board the Air Force One.
“Almost everything is demolished and people are dying there.
“So I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing at a different location where maybe they can live in peace for a change.”
Trump did not give further details of the proposal, and the subject was not referenced in the White House’s official read-out of the call. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
