Trump says Tuesday evening meeting with Netanyahu will focus on Gaza

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet again on Tuesday evening to discuss Gaza, a day after they met for hours while officials conducted indirect negotiations on a U.S.-brokered cease-fire.

The meeting will "almost exclusively" cover Gaza, Trump said. "We got to get that solved. Gaza is tragic. It's a tragedy, it's a tragedy. I want to get it solved, and I think the other side wants to get it solved."

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 on January 20.

Netanyahu spent much of Tuesday at the U.S. Capitol, telling reporters after a meeting with 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 cease-fire.

"We have still to finish the job in Gaza, release all our hostages, eliminate and destroy Hamas' military and government capabilities," Netanyahu said.

He was due to meet in the afternoon with U.S. Senate leaders before returning to the White House for another session with the Republican president.

Shortly after Netanyahu spoke, Trump envoy Steve Witkoff said he hoped to reach a temporary cease-fire 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 cease-fire. Ten live hostages will be released. Nine deceased will be released," Witkoff told reporters at a meeting of Trump's Cabinet.

The Gaza war erupted when Hamas launched its al-Aqsa Flood operation against southern Israel in October 2023, an attack that resulted in the deaths of around 1,200 people, according to Israeli figures. Militants took around 251 hostages back to Gaza, where some 50 hostages remain, with 20 believed to be alive.

Israel has since killed over 57,000 Palestinians in its military onslaught against the besieged enclave, 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.

Trump strongly supported Netanyahu, even wading into domestic Israeli politics by criticizing prosecutors over a corruption trial against the Israeli leader on bribery, fraud and breach-of-trust charges that Netanyahu denies.

In his remarks to reporters at the U.S. Congress, Netanyahu praised Trump, saying there has never been closer coordination between the U.S. and Israel in his country's history.

Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, Andrea Shalal, Jeff Mason and Susan Heavey; editing by Don Durfee and Cynthia Osterman