United States President Donald Trump has met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida for talks on breaking a deadlock over the Gaza ceasefire.
Speaking to reporters as the two leaders entered Trump's Mar-a-Lago beach club in Florida on Tuesday AEDT, Trump struck a decidedly supportive tone with Netanyahu, even as some aides and allies have suggested the Israeli leader was slow-walking elements of the ceasefire accord signed in October.
Trump said he wanted to move to the second phase of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas as soon as possible, but that "there has to be a disarming of Hamas".
He said he would be open to supporting another rapid Israeli attack on Iran if that country keeps developing its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs.
"I feel that if you had the wrong prime minister, Israel would not exist," Trump told reporters, in remarks full of praise for the Israeli leader.
Trump said Israeli President Isaac Herzog had told him he planned to pardon Netanyahu of corruption-related charges.
He said he hoped Israel could get along with Syria, even as Netanyahu's government has consistently infringed upon Syrian territorial sovereignty since former president Bashar al-Assad was deposed late last year.
While Israel and Hamas signed a ceasefire deal in October, alleged violations have been frequent, and little apparent progress has been made on longer-term goals.
Netanyahu said this month Trump had invited him for talks, as the US pushes to establish transitional governance and an international security force for the Palestinian enclave against Israeli reluctance to move forward.
What are the next steps in Gaza ceasefire plan?
Israel and Hamas agreed in October to Trump's plan to end the war in Gaza, which ultimately sees Israel withdraw from the territory and for Hamas to give up its weapons and forgo a governing role.
The first phase of the ceasefire included a partial Israeli withdrawal, an increase of aid and the exchange of hostages for Palestinian detainees and prisoners.
An Israeli official in Netanyahu's circle said the prime minister would demand that the first phase of the ceasefire be completed by Hamas returning the remains of the last Israeli hostage left in Gaza, before moving ahead to the next stages.
The family of the deceased hostage, Ran Gvili, has joined the prime minister's visiting entourage and is expected to meet officials from Trump's administration.
Israel has yet to open the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, also a condition of Trump's plan, saying it will only do so once Gvili's remains are returned.
Chuck Freilich, a political scientist at Tel Aviv University, said with an election due in October, Netanyahu was in a tight spot.
"He doesn't want a clash with Trump in an election year," Freilich, a former Israeli deputy national security adviser, said. "[Trump] wants to go forward, and Bibi [Netanyahu] is going to have to make some compromises there."
Ahead of his meeting with Trump, Netanyahu's office said he met US secretary of state Marco Rubio and secretary of war Pete Hegseth.
Rubio said last week the US wants the transitional administration envisioned in Trump's plan — a Board of Peace and a body made up of Palestinian technocrats — to be in place soon to govern Gaza, ahead of the deployment of the international security force that was mandated by a 17 November United Nations Security Council resolution.
But Israel and Hamas have accused each other of major breaches of the deal and show no signs of accepting the much more difficult steps envisaged for the next phase.
Hamas, which has refused to disarm, has been reasserting its control as Israeli troops remain entrenched in about half the territory.
Israel has indicated that if Hamas is not disarmed peacefully, it will resume military action to make it do so.
Since the ceasefire started in October, Israeli strikes have killed more than 400 Palestinians — most of them civilians, according to Gaza health officials — and Hamas has reportedly killed three Israeli soldiers.
Share
