Netanyahu to visit White House as Gaza truce pressure mounts
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.
"It's heartbreaking to see the images that have come out from both Israel and Gaza throughout this war, and the president wants to see it end."
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 in a bid to destroy the militant group Hamas.
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 Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Of these, 49 are still believed to be held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 56,531 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The United Nations considers these figures to be reliable. — Agence France-Presse
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
GMA Network
17 hours ago
- GMA Network
Trump says Israel has agreed to conditions to finalize 60-day Gaza ceasefire
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump said on Tuesday Israel had agreed "to the necessary conditions to finalize" a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza during which efforts will be made to end the US ally's war in the Palestinian enclave. "Israel has agreed to the necessary conditions to finalize the 60 Day CEASEFIRE, during which time we will work with all parties to end the War," Trump said on social media. "The Qataris and Egyptians, who have worked very hard to help bring Peace, will deliver this final proposal. I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE." —Reuters
GMA Network
20 hours ago
- GMA Network
Trump tours 'Alligator Alcatraz' as he pushes for more deportations
U.S. President Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visit a temporary migrant detention center informally known as "Alligator Alcatraz" in Ochopee, Florida, U.S., July 1, 2025. (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein) OCHOPEE, Florida —U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday toured a remote migrant detention center in the Florida Everglades dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" as his Republican allies advanced a sweeping spending bill that could ramp up deportations. The facility sits some 37 miles (60 km) from Miami in a vast subtropical wetland teeming with alligators, crocodiles and pythons, fearsome imagery the White House has leveraged to show its determination to purge migrants it says were wrongly allowed to stay in the country under former President Joe Biden's administration. Trump raved about the facility's quick construction as he scanned rows of dozens of empty bunk beds enclosed in cages and warned about the threatening conditions surrounding the facility. "I looked outside and that's not a place I want to go hiking anytime soon," Trump said at a roundtable event after his tour. "We're surrounded by miles of treacherous swampland and the only way out is really deportation." The complex in southern Florida at the Dade Collier Training and Transition Airport is estimated to cost $450 million annually and could house some 5,000 people, officials estimate. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has said he will send 100 National Guard troops there and that people could start arriving to the facility as soon as Wednesday. In promoting the opening of the facility, U.S. officials posted on social media images of alligators wearing Immigration and Customs Enforcement hats. The Florida Republican Party is selling gator-themed clothing and beer koozies. Hardline policies The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate voted on Tuesday to pass a bill that adds tens of billions of dollars for immigration enforcement alongside several of the president's other tax-and-spending plans. Trump has lobbied fiercely to have the bill passed before the July 4 Independence Day holiday, and the measure still needs a final sign-off from the House of Representatives. The Republican president, who maintains a home in Florida, has for a decade made hardline border policies central to his political agenda. One in eight 2024 U.S. election voters said immigration was the most important issue. But Trump's campaign pledges to deport as many as 1 million people per year have run up against protests by the affected communities, legal challenges, employer demands for cheap labor and a funding crunch for a government running chronic deficits. Lawyers for some of the detained migrants have challenged the legality of the deportations and criticized the conditions in temporary detention facilities. The numbers in federal immigration detention have risen sharply to 56,000 by June 15, from 39,000 when Trump took office, government data show, and his administration has pushed to find more space. The White House has said the detentions are a necessary public safety measure, and some of the detained migrants have criminal records, though U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention statistics also show an eight-fold increase in arrests of people charged only with immigration violations. Trump has spoken admiringly of vast, isolated prisons built by El Salvador and his administration has held some migrants at the Guantanamo Bay naval base, in Cuba, best known for housing foreign terrorism suspects following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat who represents a district near the Florida facility, said in an emailed statement that 'Trump and Republicans badly need this wasteful, dangerous, mass misery distraction' from a bill that would cause state residents to lose their health care benefits. Some local leaders, including from the nearby Miccosukee and Seminole tribes, have objected to the facility's construction and noted the area's sensitive environment. The construction has drawn crowds of demonstrators. Trump dismissed the environmental concerns on Tuesday, saying in wide-ranging remarks that the wetlands' wildlife would outlast the human species. He said the detention facility was a template for what he'd like to do nationwide. "We'd like to see them in many states," Trump said.—Reuters
GMA Network
a day ago
- GMA Network
As USAID stops foreign aid, Rubio says future US assistance will be limited
WASHINGTON —The U.S. Agency for International Development will officially stop implementing foreign aid on Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, adding that America's assistance in the future will be targeted and limited. In a statement marking the transfer of USAID to the State Department as part of President Donald Trump's unprecedented push to shrink the federal government, Rubio said the U.S. was abandoning what he called a charity-based model and would focus on empowering countries to grow sustainably. "We will favor those nations that have demonstrated both the ability and willingness to help themselves and will target our resources to areas where they can have a multiplier effect and catalyze durable private sector, including American companies, and global investment," the top U.S. diplomat wrote. This new model, he wrote, would prioritize trade over aid and investment over assistance, adding it would put Washington in a stronger place to counter Beijing. The Trump administration has frozen and then cut back billions of dollars of foreign aid since taking office, saying it wants to ensure U.S. taxpayer money goes only to programs that are aligned with Trump's "America First" policies. The cutbacks have effectively shut down USAID, leading to the firing of thousands of its employees and contractors. That jeopardized the delivery of life-saving food and medical aid and has thrown global humanitarian relief operations into chaos. According to research published in The Lancet medical journal, deep funding cuts to USAID and its dismantling could result in more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030. Human rights experts and advocates have warned against the cuts. USAID funding has had a crucial role in improving global health, primarily directed toward low- and middle-income countries, particularly African nations, according to the study. Reuters reported on Tuesday that the administration canceled a major contract to supply emergency kits for rape survivors in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo as violence surged there this year, leaving thousands without access to life-saving medication, the United Nations and aid groups said. Investments and trade deals USAID was established in 1961 by Democratic President John F. Kennedy at the height of the Cold War with the aim of better coordinating foreign assistance, already a key platform of U.S. foreign policy in countering Soviet influence. Washington has been the world's largest humanitarian aid donor, amounting to at least 38% of all contributions recorded by the United Nations. It disbursed $61 billion in foreign assistance last year, just over half of that via USAID, according to government data. Among the programs affected by the cuts is the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the world's leading HIV/AIDS initiative. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the epicenter of the AIDS pandemic. Trump's cuts have restricted the availability of drugs that millions of Africans have taken to prevent infection - particularly vulnerable communities such as gay men and sex workers - as aid groups and public health systems in Africa strove to roll back the disease. Trump has said the U.S. pays disproportionately for foreign aid and he wants other countries to shoulder more of the burden. A senior State Department official briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity described the USAID model as "failed engagement" that did not reduce the dependency of foreign countries on the United States, and he said other nations will need to step up. "We want to see more investment from our partners, co-investment," the official said. "We want to see trade deals, compacts, agreements to work together on stuff." The shuttering of USAID drew a rare rebuke from former presidents George Bush and Barack Obama who joined a closed video conference event with the USAID community, the Associated Press reported on Monday. "Gutting USAID is a travesty and it's a tragedy. Because it's some of the most important work happening anywhere in the world," Obama was quoted as saying.—Reuters
