Israeli PM Visits US to Hold Talks With Trump

Trump has said that negotiations with Israel and other countries in the Middle East were "progressing"

- Agence France-Presse

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began talks on Monday on a second phase of the ceasefire with Hamas as he visited the new Trump administration in Washington. Before departing, Netanyahu told reporters he would discuss "victory over Hamas", countering Iran, and freeing all hostages when he will meet President Donald Trump on Tuesday.

It will be Trump's first meeting with a foreign leader since returning to the White House in January, a prioritisation Netanyahu called "telling".

"I think it's a testimony to the strength of the Israeli-American alliance," he said before boarding his flight.

With fragile ceasefires holding in both Gaza and Lebanon - where an Israeli campaign had badly weakened Iran-backed Hezbollah - Israel had recently turned its focus to the occupied West Bank, where an operation it claimed was aimed at rooting out extremism had killed dozens. Netanyahu said Israel's wartime decisions had reshaped the Middle East and that with Trump's support, this could go even further.