Donald Trump’s actions and incendiary remarks in the first year of his second presidential term have left many women, people of color and their allies in a tailspin. My colleague Melissa Hellman has collated the racism and misogyny of the past year, in the president’s own words.
Key takeaways from Trump-Netanyahu press conference
And that’s it, the press conference is over.
Trump said he wanted to move to the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire plan “as quickly as we can, but there has to be a disarmament” from Hamas. He said Hamas would be given “a very short period of time” in which it must disarm or “there’ll be hell to pay for them”.
Trump also claimed that if Hamas doesn’t disarm, there are other countries that backed the ceasefire plan that were willing to “go in and wipe them out”.
Despite reports that senior officials in his administration are frustrated with Netanyahu stalling the peace process by refusing to further withdraw his forces from Gaza, Trump said he was “not concerned about anything that Israel is doing”. “Israel has lived up to the plan, 100%,” he said.
But, Trump said, he and Netanyahu don’t fully agree on the issue of the occupied West Bank. “We don’t agree on the West Bank 100%, but we’ll come to a conclusion on the West Bank,” he said, adding he believes Netanyahu “will do the right thing”.
And on Iran, Trump responded to reports that Tehran is rebuilding its nuclear program, saying that they’re possibly using new sites to do so. “If they are, we’re going to have no choice but very quickly to eradicate that build-up,” he said.
However, he also claimed that Iran wants to make a deal and urged them to do so, adding later that he would support the US engaging in bilateral talks with Tehran.
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Trump threatens to sue Jerome Powell for 'gross incompetence' over Federal Reserve renovations
Asked during the news conference about his search for a new Federal Reserve chair, Donald Trump offered no details about who he intends to nominate but launched an extended attack on the current chairman, Jerome Powell, in which the president repeated false claims about the cost of a renovation of the central bank headquarters, and told reporters that he might file a lawsuit against Powell for “gross incompetence”.
Trump began his response by boasting about what he said was the great state of the US economy, before adding that it was so, “despite the fact that we have a fool at the Federal Reserve.”
“I mean, Biden reappointed him. It’s too bad. You would have thought he wouldn’t have done that,” Trump said, without any acknowledgment that he had first appointed Powell himself, in 2018.
“But he’s an absolute fool,” the president continued, “who’s building a new Federal Reserve, or he’s doing a renovation of a building.”
Turning to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump then repeated a false claim about the cost of the renovation fo the central bank headquarters he has been making for months.
“Bibi, he’s up to $4.1 billion to do a renovation of a few small buildings,” Trump said, wildly inflating the cost of the renovation, which, as Powell pointed out to Trump on camera this summer, is $2.5nb.
“It’s the highest price in the history of construction,” Trump went on.
The president then suggested that the “magnificent, big, beautiful ballroom that the country has wanted, that the White House has wanted for 150 years”, which he is building in place of the demolished East Wing of the White House, will cost “a tiny fraction of that number.”
On the ballroom, Trump said, “we’re under budget and ahead of schedule.”
He then immediately contradicted himself, by acknowledging that the latest cost estimate for the ballroom, $400 million, is double the $200 million he said it would cost a few months earlier.
The increased cost, Trump said, came “after realizing that we’re gonna do the inauguration in that building,” which required “all bullet-proof glass” and a “drone-free roof, so drones won’t touch it.”
Pushed to say more about who he had in mind for the new Fed chair, Trump instead suggested that he was considering a lawsuit against Powell, the man he installed as chair in 2018.
“Gorgeous monuments are built for a much smaller price” than the Federal Reserve renovation, Trump said. “So we’re thinking about bringing a gross incompetence, what’s called a gross incompetence lawsuit, it’s gross incompetence, against Powell,” the president told reporters.
Trump makes the extraordinary claim that there are countries – other than Israel - that are willing to go in and “wipe out” Hamas if it doesn’t to disarm.
He didn’t name any of these countries or give further details.
Asked about Chinese military drills near Taiwan, Trump says: “It doesn’t worry me.”
He adds that Chinese president Xi Jinping hasn’t told him anything about it.
Asked if he would support engaging in bilateral discussions with Tehran, Trump says he would support that.
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Asked about Lebanon’s efforts to disarm Hezbollah and whether Israel should strike Hezbollah again, Trump says:
Hezbollah’s been behaving badly so we’ll see what happens.
Asked if he and Netanyahu have an understanding on Syria, Trump says: “We do have an understanding regarding Syria.”
Calling Syria’s president Ahmed al-Sharaa a “very strong guy” that he respects, he adds:
I’m sure that him and Israel will get along. I will try and make it so that they get along.
Trump says he’s “not concerned” about Israel’s actions, with regards to moving to phase two of the Gaza ceasefire plan.
I’m not concerned about anything that Israel is doing. I’m concerned about what other people are doing or maybe aren’t doing, but I’m not concerned. They’ve lived up to the plan. They’re strong.
Israel has lived up to the plan, 100%.
Earlier we reported that senior officials in the Trump administration are reportedly frustrated with Netanyahu “undermin[ing] the fragile ceasefire and stall[ing] the peace process”, as he is refusing to further withdraw Israeli troops from Gaza until Hamas disarms.
The second phase of the deal includes Israel’s further withdrawal, Hamas’ disarmament, the beginning of reconstruction of Gaza and the establishment of its interim postwar governing body.
Trump says Iran may be using new sites to rebuild its nuclear program, adding that US will 'very quickly eradicate that build-up'
Trump says he hopes Iran isn’t trying to build up its missile programme again, adding:
If they are, we’re going to have no choice but very quickly to eradicate that build-up.
I hope Iran is not trying to build up, as I’ve been reading, that they’re building up weapons and other things, and if they are, they’re not using the sites that we obliterated, but they’re using possibly different sites.
Trump says he knows “what they’re doing” and “we can’t let them build up again”.
He adds that he doesn’t want to “waste a lot of fuel” that would be required to send US bombers there for a second attack.
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Trump says he and Netanyahu don't fully agree on West Bank
Asked about Israel’s actions in the occupied West Bank and whether settler violence is undermining the peace process, Trump says he and Netanyahu “don’t agree on the West Bank 100%, but we’ll come to a conclusion on the West Bank”.
“He will do the right thing,” he adds, gesturing towards Netanyahu.
Trump didn’t go into details during this press conference about what their disagreement is, but he did say back in September that he would not allow Israel to annex the West Bank.
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Trump says Hamas will have 'very short period' to disarm or 'there'll be hell to pay'
Trump says they talked about Hamas and disarmament.
Hamas “will be given a very short period to disarm”, he says, “and we’ll see how that works out.”
But if they don’t disarm – as they agreed to do, they agreed to it – then there’ll be hell to pay for them.
And we don’t want that. But they have to disarm within a fairly short period of time.
According to the Jerusalem Post, the prize is the state of Israel’s highest civilian honor and has been awarded on rare occasion to non-Israelis before.
The only exception is the prize for “special contribution towards the Jewish people,” which, based on what Netanyahu just said, will justify Trump receiving the award.
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Netanyahu says they’re awarding the Israel prize to Donald Trump, adding that this was formally announced over lunch, “for his tremendous contributions to Israel and the Jewish people”.
Trump responds calling the award “really surprising and very much appreciated”.
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Trump and Netanyahu give joint press conference
Trump and Netanyahu are now speaking to the media following their meeting in Mar-a-Lago.
Trump says they “came to a lot of conclusions”.
Netanyahu thanks Trump again for being such a good friend to Israel.
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Herzog's office issues swift denial after Trump claims Netanyahu pardon 'on its way'
As we reported earlier, Isaac Herzog’s office was quick to challenge Donald Trump’s assertion that the Israeli president had told him a pardon for PM Benjamin Netanyahu was “on its way”.
Reuters reports that, asked about the US president’s remarks, Herzog’s office said he had not had any conversations with Trump since a pardon request was submitted several weeks ago.
Herzog’s office said he had spoken to a representative for Trump then and it was explained that any decision would be made in accordance with established procedures.
Netanyahu, Israel’s first sitting prime minister to be charged with a crime, denies bribery, fraud and breach of trust charges dating back to his 2019 indictment.
His own request for a pardon, submitted on 30 November, argued that frequent court hearings impair his ability to govern and that clemency serves the national interest.
The request drew fierce criticism from Netanyahu’s opponents, who said that pardoning him mid-trial would be a total breach of the rule of law.
According to Israeli law, the president has authority to pardon convicts. But there is no precedent for issuing a pardon mid-trial.
Netanyahu’s pardon quest has been boosted by Trump, a close ally who wrote a formal letter to Herzog in November urging him to grant clemency and describing the case as “political, unjustified prosecution”.
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'We hit the area,' says Trump regarding possible attack in Venezuela
Further to our earlier report on Trump’s comments on Venezuela, we have some more details of his quotes.
“There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” Trump said.
“We hit all the boats, and now we hit the area … it’s the implementation area. That’s where they implement, and that is no longer around.”
It was not immediately clear what target was hit nor which part of the US government acted.
Asked if the CIA had carried out the attack, Trump said: “I don’t want to say that. I know exactly who it was but I don’t want to say who it was.”
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The US and Israeli delegations seated opposite each other in the dining room at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.
On Trump’s side is secretary of state Marco Rubio, defense secretary Pete Hegseth; White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff General Dan Caine, White House deputy chiefs of staff Stephen Miller and Dan Scavino, envoy Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner.
Trump told reporters before they were ushered out of the room:
We made a lot of progress already. We had about a five-minute meeting, and we’ve already settled about three of the difficulties.
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Trump says Israel's president told him Netanyahu pardon 'on its way'
Trump also says he spoke to Israeli president Isaac Herzog, who told him that a pardon for Benjamin Netanyahu was “on its way.”
He’s a wartime prime minister who’s a hero. How do you not give a pardon? I spoke to the president ... he tells me it’s on its way.
The New York Times reported that Herzog’s office quickly denied that any decision had been made and said a decision was weeks away, at a minimum.
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Netanyahu says of his relationship with Trump:
We’ve never had a friend by President Trump in the White House.
It’s not even close. And I think you can judge that by the not merely by the frequency of our meetings, but by the content and the intensity.
I think Israel is very blessed to have President Trump leading the United States, and I’ll say leading the free world, at this time.
I think it’s not merely Israel’s great fortune. I think it’s the world’s great fortune.
Trump says he was 'very angry' about alleged attack on Putin's residence
Asked about Russia’s accusation that Ukraine tried to attack Vladimir Putin’s residence in northern Russia, which Kyiv has denied, Trump says:
I don’t like it. It’s not good. I heard about it this morning … President Putin told me about it … He said he was attacked, it’s no good.
He adds:
It’s one thing to be offensive, because they’re offensive. It’s another thing to attack his house. It’s not the right time to do any of that … I was very angry about it.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenksyy has described the claim as “typical Russian lies”, and said Moscow was using “dangerous statements” to undermine “diplomatic efforts” with the US to end its invasion of his country.
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Asked about Ran Gvili, the last hostage still inside Gaza after being taken captive by Hamas and whose parents have accompanied Netanyahu to Florida to meet Trump, the US president says:
We’re doing everything we can to get his body back.
Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu speak to reporters ahead of a meeting at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump says the US “hit” a dock area in Venezuela where he alleged drugs were loaded onto boats.
“There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs. They load the boats up with drugs. We hit all the boats, and now we hit the area,” Trump says, without providing any further details.
Reconstruction of Gaza among 'five major subjects' Trump and Netanyahu will discuss, says US president
Trump says there are “five major subjects” he and Netanyahu will be discussing, and Gaza will be one of them.
Trump adds in response to another question that he thinks the reconstruction of Gaza would begin “pretty soon”.
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Trump says US will 'knock the hell' out of Iran if it tries to rearm
Asked about Iran, Trump says:
I hear that Iran is trying to build up again, and if they are, we’re going to have to knock them down, we’ll knock them down, we’ll knock the hell out of them.
But hopefully that’s not happening. I heard Iran wants to make a deal. If they want to make a deal, that’s much smarter.
You know, they could have made a deal the last time, before we did a big attack on them.
I think, again, they should make a deal. They want to make a deal. But sometimes that doesn’t happen.
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Trump says he had “a very good talk” with Putin at 8am ET this morning.
He reiterates that there are “a few very thorny issues” that he hopes they will get resolved.
Hamas has to disarm before moving to second phase of Gaza ceasefire, Trump says
Asked how quickly he hopes to move to phase two of the Gaza ceasefire plan, Trump says: “As quickly as we can.” But, he adds, Hamas has to disarm.
As quickly as we can, but there has to be a disarmament. We have to disarm with Hamas. It’s one of the things we’ll talk about certainly, but there has to be a disarming of Hamas.
Otherwise, very quickly.
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Asked by reporters if he’ll green light another attack on Iran, Trump doesn’t answer. In fact, he stands there for an awkward amount of time, before taking another question.
Netanyahu arrives at Mar-a-Lago for talks with Trump amid concerns over fragile Gaza ceasefire plan
Benjamin Netanyahu has arrived, Trump greets him with a handshake and they stop for pictures.
“Does anyone recognize this man?” Trump jokes.
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Earlier, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with US secretary of state Marco Rubio and, in another meeting, with defense secretary Pete Hegseth, in Florida, ahead of his meeting with Trump, due to begin shortly.
Marjorie Taylor Greene says she was ‘naive’ for believing Trump is man of the people
In US politics news, Marjorie Taylor Greene, now just days away from stepping down as a congresswoman for Georgia, has said in her latest mea culpa interview that she “was just so naive” for believing that Donald Trump was a man of the people.
In a lengthy interview with the New York Times that examines her break with the president after years of devotion, Greene explained that a series of minor ruptures with the president culminated in a total breach after conservative influencer Charlie Kirk was killed in September.
The third-term Georgia congresswoman said she was watching Kirk’s memorial service on TV when his widow Erika said she forgave her husband’s killer. But then Trump took the stage to say that unlike Kirk – “a missionary with a noble spirit” who did not “hate” his opponents, Trump said he disagreed.
“I hate my opponent, and I don’t want the best for them,” Trump said.
Greene said: “That was absolutely the worst statement. It just shows where his heart is. And that’s the difference, with her having a sincere Christian faith, and proves that he does not have any faith.”
Green said that her turn away from unrepentant Maga acolyte came in that moment and she abandoned her training “to never apologize and to never admit when you’re wrong”.
“As a Christian, I don’t believe in doing that,” she said. “I agree with Erika Kirk, who did the hardest thing possible and said it out loud.” Greene said she later told a friend that after Kirk died, “I realized that I’m part of this toxic culture. I really started looking at my faith. I wanted to be more like Christ.”
Read the full story here:
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Gaza ceasefire hinges on return of last Israeli hostage, Netanyahu expected to tell Trump
Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to tell Donald Trump on Monday that Hamas must return the remains of the last Israeli hostage left in Gaza before the next stages of the stalled ceasefire can be implemented, Israeli officials and analysts say.
The trip comes amid a new push by officials in Washington to force concessions from Israel to allow progress towards a second stage of the ceasefire in Gaza, which began in October after two years of devastating war.
The family of the last person whose remains have not been returned, Ran Gvili, has joined the Israeli prime minister’s visiting entourage and will meet officials in Washington later this week.
Hamas has freed 20 living hostages and returned the bodies of 27 dead hostages since October and some observers see the insistence on Gvili’s remains as a delaying tactic to allow Israel’s military forces to remain in the 53% of Gaza they currently control.
Daniel Levy, a UK-based analyst and former Israeli peace negotiator, said Netanyahu had no intention of withdrawing further from Gaza or allowing any international force that would deter Israeli military action.
He feels he has a number of cards to play yet and the remains of Gvili is the easiest one to play now but there are others.
Netanyahu is also expected to tell Trump that Israeli is prepared to restart the war in Gaza to force Hamas to surrender its weapons as required under the ceasefire agreement.
Amit Segal, a prominent journalist who is close to Netanyahu, wrote on Monday:
Netanyahu knows exactly what he wants for Christmas – more of the same. Israeli troops stay in 51% of Gaza, periodically striking Hamas … without the shadow of withdrawal looming over him. None of this requires a denunciation of the [Trump] plan itself and Trump can very easily justify Israel’s extended stay on Hamas’s unwillingness to disarm.
Hamas retains large quantities of small arms but only a fraction of the heavy weapons that enabled its surprise attack into southern Israel in 2023, in which 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 250 abducted.
Read Jason’s full report here:
Further to that, the Kremlin has said that Putin informed Trump about the supposed drone attack on Putin’s residence in their phone call today, and would review its position in peace negotiations as a result.
Per my last post, Ukraine has already labelled the supposed attack as “fake” and a “lie”, with Zelenskyy saying Russia has come out with this story to undermine the US-Ukrainian work on a deal to end the war.
In today’s call, Putin told Trump that he still wants to work with the US on a peace deal but the attack had forced a revision of their position, Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said.
Putin was also briefed by Trump and his senior advisers about the negotiations with Ukraine.
Ukraine’s foreign minister has urged world leaders to condemn Russian “manipulations”, saying Moscow was seeking “false justification” for further strikes on its neighbour. He also issued a reminder that “Russia is the aggressor” in this war and Ukraine is defending itself.
Andrii Sybiha said in a post on X:
Russian manipulations regarding the alleged “attempt to attack Putin’s residence” are fabricated for only one reason: to create a pretext and false justification for Russia’s further attacks against Ukraine, as well as to undermine and impede the peace process.
Usual Russian tactic: accuse the other side of what you are doing or planning yourself.
First, Russia has already struck the Ukrainian government building this year.
Second, Ukraine only strikes legitimate military targets in the Russian territory—in response to Russian strikes at Ukraine.
Third, Russia is the aggressor, and Ukraine is the country that has been attacked and defends itself according to article 51 of the UN Charter. There can be no false equivalence between the aggressor and the country defending itself.
We urge the world to condemn provocative Russian statements aimed at derailing the constructive peace process. Ukraine remains committed to peace efforts led by the United States, with the participation of European partners
Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said that he had discussed the matter with German chancellor Friedrich Merz.
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Trump had 'positive call' with Putin, White House says
In other news, Donald Trump has concluded a “positive call” with Vladimir Putin concerning the war in Ukraine, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has said. We’ll bring you more details on that as we get them.
It comes as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed a Russian accusation that Ukraine tried to attack Putin’s residence as a lie, adding that Moscow was preparing the ground to strike government buildings in Kyiv.
The Kremlin earlier said its negotiating position would change following the attack. Zelenskyy has urged the US to react to Russian threats accordingly and has cast the Russian claim as a way of undermining progress in peace talks following his meeting with Trump yesterday.
My colleague Frances Mao is covering the latest on Russia’s war in Ukraine over on our dedicated live blog:
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'Everything is connected to him staying in power': Close relationship with Trump would boost election-facing Netanyahu
For Benjamin Netanyahu, a priority will be convincing Donald Trump to allow Israel to act to prevent Iran from repairing the damage inflicted on its nuclear programme in its short war with Israel and the US this summer, or building its ballistic missile capabilities.
Netanyahu faces an election within 10 months, and the looming polls will influence his agenda, analysts say.
“Everything is connected to [his] staying in power,” said Yossi Mekelberg, a Middle East expert at London-based thinktank Chatham House.
Polls show Netanyahu’s current coalition would struggle to form a government if elections were held now, with many voters angry over the failures that led to the Hamas raid of 2023, moves to continue the exemption of most ultra-Orthodox Jewish men from compulsory military service in Israel and a series of scandals, among other issues.
A close relationship with Trump would reinforce Netanyahu’s appeal among undecided voters and his base, and this suggests any public disagreement between the two leaders is extremely unlikely, analysts said.
Get the full story here:
Hundreds have died in Gaza since October ceasefire
A reminder of the current winter in Gaza where most housing and infrastructure have been badly damaged or razed, and where in recent weeks heavy rain and cold temperatures have compounded the suffering.
More than 70,000 Palestinian people, mostly civilians, were killed in Gaza during Israel’s military assault on the territory, and almost all of its 2.3m population was displaced.
And about 400 Palestinian people have died in Gaza since the October ceasefire, and huge numbers continue to survive in conditions of acute hardship, in tents and makeshift shelters among the ruins of the territory.
Unrwa commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini said in a post on X yesterday:
More rain. More human misery, despair & death. Harsh winter weather is compounding more than two years of suffering. People in Gaza are surviving in flimsy, waterlogged tents & among ruins. There is nothing inevitable about this. Aid supplies are not being allowed in at the scale required.
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Leaders to meet amid reported frustration among Trump officials with Israeli PM's 'stalling' peace process
Under the next stages of Trump’s plan, an interim authority made up of nonaligned Palestinian technocrats is to govern the Palestinian territory instead of Hamas and an international stabilisation force (ISF) of thousands of troops is to be deployed.
US officials have suggested the composition of the new authority could be announced in January.
On Friday, the US news outlet Axios reported senior Trump officials were growing frustrated “as Netanyahu has taken steps to undermine the fragile ceasefire and stall the peace process”.
Analysts in Israel and overseas agree.
“There are more and more signs that the American administration is getting frustrated with Netanyahu,” said Yossi Mekelberg, a Middle East expert at London-based thinktank Chatham House.
“The question is what it’s going to do about it, because phase 2 is right now going nowhere,” Mekelberg added.
Read Jason’s full report here:
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What is the tricky second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal?
The first phase of the truce deal required that Hamas release the remaining hostages, both dead and alive, taken during its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
The group has so far returned all the living captives and the remains of all but one.
Under the second stage, Israel is supposed to withdraw from its positions in Gaza, while Hamas is supposed to lay down its weapons. But disarming is a major sticking point for the Islamist movement.
An interim authority is meanwhile meant to govern the Palestinian territory, and an international stabilisation force (ISF) is to be deployed.
But the deal is still tenuous. Both sides have alleged frequent ceasefire violations.
Israel is continuing to strike Hamas targets in Gaza, as well as Hezbollah in Lebanon – despite there being a ceasefire there too.
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Further to our earlier post, Israeli government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian said Netanyahu would discuss the second phase of Gaza deal, as well as bring up the “danger Iran poses not only to the region of the Middle East, but the United States as well”.
In recent months, Israeli officials and media have voiced concerns that Iran is rebuilding its ballistic missile arsenal after it came under attack during the 12-day war with Israel in June.
But Sina Toossi, a researcher at the Center for International Policy (CIP) in Washington, told AFP Trump’s insistence that US strikes in June destroyed Tehran’s nuclear program had “removed Israel’s most powerful historical justification for US support for war with Iran”.
Netanyahu’s new focus on Iran’s missiles is “an effort to manufacture a replacement casus belli”, Toossi says.
The Gaza ceasefire in October is one of the major achievements of Trump’s first year back in power, but his administration and regional mediators want to keep up the momentum.
There are reports that Trump would be keen to announce – even as early as January – a Palestinian technocratic government for Gaza, and the deployment of an international stabilisation force.
Axios reported on Friday that Trump wanted to convene the first meeting of a new Gaza “Board of Peace” that he would chair, at the Davos forum in Switzerland in January.
Trump’s global envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner hosted senior officials from mediators Qatar, Egypt and Turkey in Miami earlier this month.
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Donald Trump to meet Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago
Good morning and welcome to our US politics blog where the focus is squarely on international conflicts today.
Just a day after hosting Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump will host Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago at 1pm ET.
It is the fifth meeting between the two leaders in the US this year and comes amid concerns over progress on Trump’s fragile Gaza truce plan.
Netanyahu and Trump will meet in Florida amid growing fears Israel could launch new offensives against regional enemies, potentially plunging the Middle East further into instability.
The Israeli prime minister left Israel on Sunday on his fifth visit to see Trump in the US this year.
High on the agenda will be the ceasefire in Gaza, which in October halted Israel’s devastating two-year-long military assault. Though the terms agreed for an initial phase have been largely completed, with Israel’s forces pulling back to new positions and Hamas releasing all living and all but one of the dead hostages, immense challenges face the implementation of the second phase of the president’s 20-point plan.
There are also fears Israel will launch new offensives against Hezbollah in Lebanon, breaking a ceasefire established more than a year ago, or against Iran, which it accuses of accelerating the manufacture of ballistic missiles in recent months.
There are fears in the White House that both Israel and Hamas are dragging their feet on the second phase of the ceasefire. But Trump says Netanyahu has asked for these talks, perhaps to put pressure on shifting focus to Iran. He may call for more US strikes on the Islamic republic.
We’ll have more over the coming hours.
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