U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet again on Tuesday afternoon to discuss Gaza as Trump’s Middle East envoy said Israel and Hamas were closing their differences on a ceasefire deal.
Trump and Netanyahu dined together on Monday at the White House during the Israeli leader’s third U.S. visit since the president began his second term. Netanyahu met with Vice-President JD Vance and then visited the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday.
Netanyahu told reporters after a meeting with the Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson that while he did not think Israel’s campaign in the Palestinian enclave was done, negotiators are “certainly working” on a ceasefire.
“We have still to finish the job in Gaza, release all our hostages, eliminate and destroy Hamas’s military and government capabilities,” Netanyahu said.
Shortly after Netanyahu spoke, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, said the issues keeping Israel and Hamas from agreeing had dropped to one from four and he hoped to reach a temporary ceasefire agreement this week.
“We are hopeful that by the end of this week, we’ll have an agreement that will bring us into a 60-day ceasefire. Ten live hostages will be released. Nine deceased will be released,” Witkoff told reporters at a meeting of Trump’s cabinet.
Front Burner29:16Netanyahu in Washington, and a Gaza ceasefire?
Netanyahu’s plan to return to the White House to see Trump at 4:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday pushed back his meeting with U.S. Senate leaders to Wednesday.
The war erupted when Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures. Some 50 hostages remain in Gaza, with 20 believed to be alive.
Israel’s retaliatory assault on Gaza has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry. Most of Gaza’s population has been displaced by the war and nearly half a million people are facing famine within months, according to United Nations estimates.
