July 7 (UPI) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump expressed optimism about a peace deal with Hamas during their dinner meeting at the White House on Monday.
And regarding another hotspot in the Middle East, Trump said he is hopeful of a nuclear deal with Iran, nine days after the United States bombed three uranium enrichment sites
It was Netanyahu’s third visit to the White House since Trump became president again on Jan. 20.
The two leaders met for dinner in the Blue Room, sitting across from one another with their aides. It was partly closed to the media, who asked some questions before they left. Specifics regarding Hamas and Iran were not given.
“It’s an honor to have Bibi and Sarah with us — friends of mine for a long time — and we had a tremendous success together, and I think it will only go on to be ever greater success in the future,” Trump said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname and the Israeli leader’s wife, Sarah Netanyahu. “It’s really nice to have you at the White House.”
Without speaking mentioning the recent U.S. attack on Iran, Trump remarked that “we had a great result recently, and we’re going to have a lot of great results.”
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy in the Middle East, told reporters at the dinner that “we have an opportunity to finally get a peace deal” involving Israel and Hamas. Witkoff also is handling negotiations between the United States and Iran on a nuclear deal.
Seated with Trump were Marco Rubio, the secretary of state and national security adviser, as well as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel.
Rubio met with Netanyahu at Blaire House before the dinner.
“We had a substantive and important conversation about strengthening the alliance between Israel and the United States, and about the challenges we share in the regional and international arena,” Netanyahu, who is staying until Thursday in Washington, D.C., posted on X.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met today at Blair House in Washington, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. They first held an expanded meeting and then met privately. pic.twitter.com/BhMUfkgDji— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) July 7, 2025
During the dinner, Netanyahu said: “I want to express the appreciation and admiration not only of all Israelis, but of the Jewish people and many, many admirers around the world, for your leadership, your leadership of the free world, your leadership of a just cause, and the pursuit of peace and security,” he said.
“The president has an extraordinary team, and I think our teams, together, make an extraordinary combination to meet challenges and seize opportunities.
“But the president has already realized great opportunities. He forged the Abraham Accords,” he said in describing the normalization of relations with between Israel and several Arab nations in 2020, during Trump’s first term. “He’s forging peace as we speak, in one country and one region after the other.
The Israel leader gave Trump a copy of a letter he sent to the Nobel Prize committee nominating him for the peace prize.
“It’s well deserved, and you should get it,” Netanyahu said.
“Wow,” Trump said. “Coming from you in particular, this is very meaningful.”
Situation in Gaza
Trump has proposed a 60-day truce that involves the release of 10 live Israeli hostages and 18 deceased ones as a way to work toward a peace agreement.
Netanyahu has been unwilling to sign a deal to end the war, which began Oct. 7, 2023, when the militants invaded Israel from Gaza. Netanyahu has vowed to eliminate Hamas.
And Hamas won’t release all of the remaining hostages unless Israel withdraws its forces and agrees to let Hamas control all of Gaza.
Netanyahu wants Arab countries to control Gaza and provide security with Palestinians unaffiliated with Hamas or the Palestinian Authority, Axios reported. Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia oppose this and want some role for the Palestinian Authority.
There are 2.2 million Palestinians on the Gaza Strip of 131 square miles. Trump has proposed moving them to other places, and in February with Netanyahu said his nation “would take over” and “own” Gaza with the residents going elsewhere.
At the White House on Monday night, Netanyahu said: “We’re working with the United States, very closely, about finding countries that will seek to realize what they have always said, that they want to give the Palestinians a better future, and I think we are getting close to finding several countries. Again, the freedom to choose, Palestinians should have it.”
Trump said: “We’ve had great cooperation from many surrounding Israel …something good will happen.”
Netanyahu has been opposed to a separate state for Palestinians though Monday he said they should have the power to govern themselves.
There are 5.5 million Palestinians living on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. They are considered occupied by Israel under international law, and a blockade prevents people and goods from freely entering or exiting the territory.
In 2007, Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip, which is between Israel and Egypt on the Mediterranean Sea. Egypt controlled this area from 1948 until the Six Day War with Israel in 1968.
Israel and Hamas previously had two cease-fires amid the war. The first one lasted four days in November 2023. The last one went from Jan. 19 to March 1, during which 25 living Israeli hostages and 1,737 Palestinian prisoners were released. Weeks later, Israel resumed airstrikes on Gaza and ended humanitarian aid. The distribution of aid resumed in late May by U.S.-run Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
While Netanyahu headed to the United States on Sunday, Israeli negotiators went to Qatar for indirect talks with Hamas about a possible accord.
Situation in Iran
Trump has sought a nuclear deal with Iran since his first term when he unilaterally pulled the United States from a landmark multinational Obama-era accord aimed at denying Tehran for securing a nuclear weapon.
He has returned to his so-called maxim pressure campaign to try and coerce Iran to the negotiating table that failed during his first term and saw Iran continue to advance its nuclear capabilities.
On June 22, U.S. B-2 jets bombed three Iranian nuclear sites. Israel first used airstrikes on Iran on June 13, targeting military and nuclear sites.
Trump said the nuclear locations were “obliterated” but the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog head, Rafael Grossi, said the nation’s uranium enrichment program has only been set back months.
Many leaders worldwide are fearful that Iran is developing a nuclear bomb.
“When those sites were knocked out, that was essentially the end,” Trump told reporters at the dinner.
“I asked what’s the purpose of talking if it’s been knocked out and knocked out completely. But they requested a meeting and I’m going to go to a meeting and if we can put something down on paper, that’ll be fine.”
Witkoff said a deal could be worked out “very quickly. In the next week or so.”
Trump wants no uranium enrichment in Iran.
Netanyahu opposed the nuclear accord in 2015 that Trump withdrew from in 2018 during his first term in office.
“For the first time in history, the United States and Israel have gone to war together jointly in offensive operations against the military capabilities of a primary common adversary,” John Hannah, senior Fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, told Fox News. “That’s a very big deal.”
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