Key Points
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has met with US President Donald Trump at the White House.
- Netanyahu said Trump was "forging peace as we speak" across multiple regions.
- Trump said he was confident a Gaza ceasefire deal could be implemented.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had nominated United States President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, presenting him with a letter he sent to the prize committee.
"He's forging peace as we speak, in one country, in one region after the other," Netanyahu said at a dinner with Trump at the White House on Tuesday AEST.
Trump has received multiple Nobel Peace Prize nominations from supporters and loyal politicians over the years, and has made no secret of his irritation at missing out on the prestigious award.
The Republican has complained he had been overlooked by the Norwegian Nobel Committee for his mediating role in conflicts between India and Pakistan, as well as Serbia and Kosovo.
He has also demanded credit for "keeping peace" between Egypt and Ethiopia and brokering the Abraham Accords, a series of agreements aimed at normalising relations between Israel and several Arab nations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has travelled to the White House to meet with US President Donald Trump. Source: AAP / AP / Alex Brandon
Last month, Pakistan also announced its intention to nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, hailing him as "a genuine peacemaker" for his role in brokering peace in the four-day conflict with India.
It said he had "demonstrated great strategic foresight and stellar statesmanship".
The following day, Pakistan condemned Trump's decision to bomb nuclear facilities in Iran in support of Israeli airstrikes, calling the US attacks an "unprecedented escalation of tension and violence" and accusing the US of breaking international law.
Trump later helped broker a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, after a 12-day conflict that started when Israel launched missiles at Iran.
Trump confident of Gaza ceasefire
Netanyahu travelled to the US to meet with Trump at the White House, with Trump saying beforehand he would push for a ceasefire in Gaza.
He told reporters on Tuesday he was confident Palestinian militant group Hamas was willing to agree to a truce with Israel.
Hamas' attack on southern Israel in October 2023 killed more than 1,200 people, with more than 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli figures.
Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed more than 57,000 people in Gaza, according to the territory's health ministry. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.
Hamas said earlier this week it had responded in a "positive spirit" to the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire proposal and was prepared to enter into talks on implementing it.
Trump and Netanyahu met in Washington while Israeli officials held indirect negotiations with Hamas aimed at securing the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release deal.
Controversial plan to move Palestinians out of Gaza
It was Trump's third face-to-face encounter with Netanyahu since returning to office in January.
Speaking to reporters at the beginning of the White House dinner between US and Israeli officials, both Trump and Netanyahu indicated progress on a controversial effort to move Palestinians out of Gaza to neighbouring countries.
"If people want to stay, they can stay, but if they want to leave, they should be able to leave," Netanyahu said.
Trump said countries around Israel were helping out.
"We've had great cooperation from ... surrounding countries, great cooperation from every single one of them. So something good will happen," Trump said.
The US president floated the displacement of Palestinians and taking over the Gaza Strip earlier this year. Gazans criticised the proposal and vowed never to leave their homes in the coastal enclave.
Meanwhile, Trump also said his administration would be meeting with Iran.
"We have scheduled Iran talks, and they ... want to talk. They took a big drubbing," he said, referring to the damage Iran sustained in its 12-day war with Israel.
Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said the meeting would take place in the next week or so.
Trump said he would like to lift sanctions on Iran at some point. "I would love to be able to, at the right time, take those sanctions off."
