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WASHINGTON:US President Donald Trump will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday for high-stakes talks aimed at pushing an elusive Gaza peace plan over the line.
Trump says a deal to end the nearly two-year war in Gaza, free hostages held by Hamas and disarm the Palestinian militant group is effectively done following talks with Arab leaders last week.
He teased a possible breakthrough on Sunday, saying on his Truth Social network: “ALL ARE ON BOARD FOR SOMETHING SPECIAL, FIRST TIME EVER. WE WILL GET IT DONE!!!“
However, Netanyahu has given little reason for optimism in recent days.
He vowed in a defiant UN address on Friday to “finish the job” against Hamas, and promised to block a Palestinian state that key Western nations recently recognized.
The Israeli premier also appears reluctant to halt a military offensive in Gaza City from which hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee in recent weeks.
It will be Netanyahu’s fourth visit to the White House since Trump returned to power in January, as the US president struggles to end a conflict he said he could solve in days.
Normally a staunch ally of Netanyahu, Trump has shown recent signs of frustration.
He warned Netanyahu last week against annexing the West Bank, as some of the Israeli premier’s cabinet members have urged, and also opposed Israel’s recent strike on Hamas members in key US ally Qatar.
The outcome of the meeting was likely to depend on how much pressure Trump was willing to put on Netanyahu to swallow a deal on which both Israel and Hamas are still not sold, said Natan Sachs, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute.
“Netanyahu has a clear preference for continuing the war and defeating Hamas, but I don’t think it’s impossible for Trump to convince him otherwise,” Sachs told AFP.
“It would need a lot of pressure from Trump and a very clear and sustained strategy.”
The two leaders will address a joint news conference at 1:15 p.m. US Eastern time (1715 GMT) on Monday.

- ‘Finish the job’ -

Trump sounded increasingly optimistic last week about the prospects of a deal after meeting Arab and Muslim-majority leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
A reported 21-point, US-led deal has begun to take shape in recent days that would include the disarmament of Hamas, the release of all hostages and a ceasefire.
Former British prime minister Tony Blair was floated in some media reports as a possible leader of a transitional authority for Gaza under the US proposals.
The body known as the “Gaza International Transitional Authority” would operate with the support of the UN and Gulf nations before eventually handing control to a reformed Palestinian Authority (PA).
Netanyahu, during his UN speech, firmly rejected the idea of the Ramallah-based PA having a role in governing Gaza, which it did until Hamas seized power in 2007.
He expressed deep skepticism on Sunday that the PA could be reformed.
“I think that the credibility or the likelihood of... a reformed Palestinian Authority that changes completely its stripes, that accepts a Jewish state, that teaches its children to embrace the coexistence and friendship with the Jewish state, rather than living their lives in order to annihilate it... well, good luck,” he told Fox News’ “The Sunday Briefing” program.
The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’s grisly October 7, 2023, attack, which killed 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally from Israeli official figures, in the deadliest day in the country’s history.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 65,549 Palestinians, also mostly civilians, according to health ministry figures in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.

CASABLANCA, Morocco: Youth-led demonstrators clashed with police over the weekend in some of Morocco’s largest anti-government protests in years, denouncing what they called the government’s misplaced priorities.
Hundreds of young Moroccans took to the streets of at least 11 cities across the North African nation, denouncing corruption and blasting the government for pouring money into international sporting events while neglecting health and education.
They drew a direct link between the country’s struggling health care system and its investments in the lead-up to the 2030 FIFA World Cup, shouting slogans including, “Stadiums are here, but where are the hospitals?”
Morocco is building at least three new stadiums and renovating or expanding at least half a dozen others, preparing to co-host the event. It will also host the Africa Cup of Nations later this year.
Police in plainclothes and riot gear disrupted protests in several cities, including Rabat and Marrakech, and arrested demonstrators, including in Casablanca, an Associated Press reporter witnessed.
Since at least a decade ago, protests in Morocco have often centered on regional inequities and the government’s priorities in Rabat. This weekend’s nationwide rallies coalesced around popular anger seen earlier this year in isolated incidents throughout Morocco, including in areas still reeling from the deadly 2023 earthquake. Unrest swelled most recently after eight women died giving birth in a public hospital in Agadir, a large coastal city 300 miles (483 kilometers) south of Rabat.
Leaderless movement driven by Gen Z
The Moroccan Association for Human Rights said dozens were arrested on Saturday, including some who were physically assaulted. Some were freed overnight, it said, adding that the arrests “confirm the crackdown on free voices and restriction of the right to freedom of expression.”
Unlike past protests driven by unions or political parties, the leaderless movement organizing the weekend protests publicized them largely on social media platforms such as TikTok and Discord, popular among gamers and teenagers.
Two groups — “Gen Z 212” and “Morocco Youth Voices” — urged “peaceful and civilized protests” and responsible debate, even as many of their supporters voiced more militant demands.
“There is no hope,” Youssef, a 27-year-old engineer protesting in Casablanca, said. “I not only want health and education reforms, I want a whole system reform.”
“I want better salaries, better jobs, low prices and a better life,” he added, speaking on the condition of anonymity out of fear of facing arrest for attending an unauthorized protest.
In Morocco, people born between 1995 and 2010 make up the largest share of the population, and the weekend demonstrations were referred to as the Gen Z protests. Morocco’s youth have drawn inspiration from Nepal, where youth-led protests have channeled widespread anger over the lack of opportunities, corruption and nepotism.
Health sector is the focus of public anger
Moroccans have been demonstrating outside hospitals in cities and rural towns to denounce the decline of public services, local outlets reported.
Officials have denied prioritizing World Cup spending over public infrastructure, saying problems facing the health sector were inherited.
Earlier this month, Morocco’s billionaire Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch defended what he called the government’s “major accomplishments” in the health sector.
“We managed reforms, upgraded the spendings, and we are in the process of building hospitals in all the country’s regions,” Akhannouch, who is also Agadir’s mayor, said. “The Agadir hospital has been facing problems since 1962 ... and we are trying to resolve them.”
After protests, Moroccan Health Minister Amine Tahraoui fired the hospital director as well as health officials from the region.
World Health Organization data from 2023 showed Morocco having only 7.7 medical professionals per 10,000 inhabitants and far fewer in certain regions, including Agadir, with 4.4 per 10,000. The WHO recommends 25 per 10,000.