Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has travelled to Washington for a meeting with Donald Trump, becoming the first foreign leader to visit the new US president.
The visit comes as uncertainty looms over the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire, which is supposed to begin on Monday.
Mr Netanyahu emphasised his personal relationship with Mr Trump while seeking clarity about his stance regarding the ceasefire, as his coalition partners pushed for a renewed offensive.
“The decisions we made in the war have already changed the face of the Middle East,” he said at the airport before his departure. “Our decisions and the courage of our soldiers have redrawn the map. But I believe that working closely with President Trump, we can redraw it even further and for the better.”
Mr Netanyahu, who faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Gaza, had a tense relationship with Mr Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden and had not been to the White House since resuming office in late 2022.
In a statement released ahead of his departure on Sunday, Mr Netanyahu said he and Mr Trump would discuss “victory over Hamas, achieving the release of all our hostages and dealing with the Iranian terror axis in all its components”.
He stated that by working together, they could “strengthen security, broaden the circle of peace, and achieve a remarkable era of peace through strength”.
Mr Netanyahu said being the first foreign leader to meet Mr Trump since his return to the White House was “telling”.
“I think it’s a testimony to the strength of the Israeli-American alliance,” he said.
Mr Netanyahu is facing increasing pressure from his coalition partners to resume the war on Gaza once the first phase of the ceasefire ends in early March. He has reaffirmed Israel’s commitment to securing the return of all hostages taken during the Hamas attack in October 2023.
After Trump won the US presidency for the second time, Mr Netanyahu had said the Republican leader had made “history’s greatest comeback”.
“Your historic return to the White House offers a new beginning for America and a powerful recommitment to the great alliance between Israel and America,” he said in a statement, which was echoed by the leaders of the nationalist religious parties in his coalition.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has been fighting Israel for more than a year in Gaza, said the election was a matter for the American people, but it called for an end to the “blind support” for Israel from the US.
“We urge Trump to learn from Biden’s mistakes,” Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters at the time.
