Netanyahu to discuss Gaza and tariffs with Trump at White House meeting

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is in Washington for a second meeting with Donald Trump since the US president’s return to office, where the pair are expected to discuss the 18-month-old war in Gaza, Iran’s nuclear threat and US tariffs.

Trump is set to greet Netanyahu at the White House at 1pm ET on Monday before holding private talks, after which the two leaders will hold a joint press conference at 2.30pm.

The Israeli prime minister, announcing the last-minute meeting on Sunday, said he was visiting at the invitation of Trump to speak about efforts to release Israeli hostages from Gaza, as well as new US tariffs.

The meeting will be the first effort by a foreign leader to negotiate a deal after the Trump administration announced sweeping tariffs on many countries last week, including a 17% tariff on Israeli goods.

The US is Israel’s closest ally and largest single trading partner. Israel had hoped to avoid the new tariffs by moving to cancel its remaining tariffs on US imports a day before Trump’s announcement.

“I am the first international leader, the first foreign leader, who will meet with President Trump on the issue, which is so important to the Israeli economy,” Netanyahu said in a statement on Sunday. “I think that it reflects the special personal link, as well as the special ties between the US and Israel, which is so vital at this time.”

During Netanyahu’s last visit in February, Trump shocked the world by proposing to take over the Gaza Strip, removing more than 2 million Palestinians and redeveloping the occupied territory as a “Riviera of the Middle East”, in effect endorsing the ethnic cleansing of the people of Gaza.

Since then, Israel has resumed its bombardment in Gaza, collapsing nearly two months of ceasefire with Hamas that had been brokered by the US, Egypt and Qatar.

Nearly 1,400 Palestinians have been killed in the renewed Israeli operations in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, taking the total death toll since the start of the war to more than 50,000. Israel has also halted all supplies of food, fuel and humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Netanyahu’s visit to the US comes as he faces pressure at home to return to ceasefire negotiations and secure the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza. He said last week that Israel was “seizing territory” and intended to “divide up” the Gaza Strip by building a new security corridor, inflaming fears that Israel intends to take permanent control of the strip when the war ends.

Netanyahu arrived in Washington on Sunday night from Hungary, after a four-day official visit that marked the Israeli leader’s first visit to European soil since the international criminal court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for him over allegations of war crimes in Gaza.

Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, made it clear he would defy the court to host Netanyahu, and announced that he would take Hungary out of the ICC because it had become “political”. The US is not a member of the court.