Israeli PM Netanyahu, US President Trump to hold crucial talks on key issues
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Editor
- . February 4, 2025
- . Update: February 4, 2025 7:53 pm
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to hold crucial talks with U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday amid the Gaza ceasefire.
Netanyahu is the first foreign leader to be hosted by Trump since his Jan. 20 inauguration.
They are set to meet as indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas are scheduled to resume this week on the second stage of the ceasefire deal and hostage release.
The two are expected to discuss negotiations for the second phase of the Hamas ceasefire and Iran’s efforts to build a nuclear weapon. After their meeting, the two leaders are expected to hold a joint press conference.
Ahead of the meeting on Sunday, Trump told reporters that discussions with Israel and other countries in the Middle East are “progressing.”
“The discussions on the Middle East with Israel and various and sundry other countries are progressing,” Trump said, adding that Netanyahu would be “coming on Tuesday, and I think we have some very big meetings scheduled.”
During his first term, Trump helped Netanyahu with the signing of the Abraham Accords and normalizing ties between Israel and several Arab states. He emerged as a strong supporter US ally Israel, expressing hopes to renew efforts towards normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Both Trump and Netanyahu have expressed their willing to include Saudi Arabia in new regional arrangements in line with the Abraham Accords.
Another agenda for discussions is a request by Netanyahu for the US to move forward with a set of pending arms transfers to Israel amounting to over $8 billion worth of bombs, missiles, artillery and other weapons.
