The agreement has achieved a pause in the 15-month Gaza war. Under the deal, Hamas will free hostages abducted during the militants’ brutal October 2023 assault on Israel, which left about 1,200 people dead and triggered a massive Israeli offensive that has killed nearly 50,000 Palestinians. In exchange, the Israeli government will release Palestinian prisoners.
In Tuesday’s meeting, “we’ll deal with important issues, critical issues facing Israel and our region: victory over Hamas, achieving the release of all our hostages and dealing with the Iranian terror axis in all its components,” Netanyahu posted on social media site X, which is owned by Trump’s senior government official and billionaire Elon Musk.
“The decisions we made in the war have already changed the face of the Middle East. Our decisions and the courage of our soldiers have redrawn the map,” Netanyahu added. “But I believe that working closely with President Trump, we can redraw it even further and for the better.”
Over the past year, Israel has sent troops into Lebanon and pushed into the demilitarized buffer zone between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria.
Trump, meanwhile, last week called on neighboring countries to take in Gaza’s Palestinians, suggesting “we just clean out that whole thing.” Arab countries rejected this suggestion on Saturday.
