SAEDNEWS: US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a meeting at the White House, discussed their controversial proposal to forcibly transfer thousands of Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip.
Trump and Netanyahu met for dinner in the Blue Room of the White House on Monday.
The meeting took place as indirect talks in Qatar between Israel and Hamas on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day ceasefire to halt the 22-month war appeared to gather some momentum.
Trump, who earlier this year caused outrage when he floated his idea of relocating Palestinians and taking over the Strip to turn it into a “Riviera of the Middle East,” said there had been “great cooperation” on the matter from “surrounding countries.”
Trump and Netanyahu met as Israeli and Hamas negotiators held a second day of indirect talks in Qatar, seated in different rooms in the same building. Proposals for a 60-day pause in fighting envisage a phased release of Israeli and Palestinian prisoners, Israeli military withdrawals from parts of Gaza, and discussions on completely ending the war.
But a sticking point is whether the ceasefire will end the war altogether. Hamas has said it is willing to free all the prisoners in exchange for all Palestinian prisoners and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Netanyahu, however, says the war will end once Hamas surrenders, disarms, and goes into exile, a condition the Palestinian group has dismissed as a nonstarter.
Ahead of Netanyahu’s visit to the US, Trump predicted that a ceasefire deal could be reached this week.
