President Trump will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday, and several familiar with the meeting confirmed to CBS News on Saturday.
Leaders are expected to focus on Gaza’s latest Israeli military operations and new U.S. tariffs announced by Mr. Trump against Israel and other countries, according to the Associated Press.
This will be their second meeting in Trump’s second term. The two met last Washington, DC FebruaryWhen Mr. Trump Revealed his plan Let the United States “take over Gaza” and then turn it into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”
Kyle Mazza/anadolu by Getty Images
The meeting between the two leaders comes after the Israeli military said it was intended to put pressure on Hamas to release the remaining hostages and ultimately expel pressure from militant groups.
Israel announces new corridor
Meanwhile, Israel said it has deployed its troops to a newly established security corridor throughout southern Gaza. Netanyahu announced the new Morag corridor on Saturday and suggested it would cut off the southern city of Rafah, which Israel ordered to evacuate from the rest of Gaza.
Saturday’s military statement said the 36th Division’s troops had been deployed in the corridor. It is not clear how many have been deployed or the exact location of the corridor. Morag was the name of the Jewish settlement that once stood between Rafah and Khan Younis, and Netanyahu suggested it would run between cities.
Maps published by Israeli media show the new corridor extending from east to west the width of the narrow coastal zone.
Netanyahu said it would be the “second Philadelphia Corridor” referring to the Gaza border further south with Egypt, which has been under Israeli control since May last year.
Israel has also regained control of the Netzarim Corridor, which cuts down a third of northern Gaza (including Gaza City) from the Gaza Strip. The Philadelphia and Netzarim corridor extend from the Israeli border to the Mediterranean.
Hamas says the hostage situation is “highly dangerous”
Hamas has long been designated as a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States, even before the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel The war in GazaIsrael’s ongoing offense in Gaza is posing a “highly dangerous” situation for hostages still taking place there, it said Friday. It warned that half of the living captives were in areas where Israeli troops ordered evacuation.
“Half of the Israelites (hostages) are located in areas where the Israeli occupation forces have requested evacuation in recent days,” AFP said in a statement. “We decided not to transfer these (hostages) … but (this situation) is very dangerous for their lives.”
Hamas said it will release only the remaining 59 hostages (24 of them are still alive) in exchange for the release of more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and evacuation from Gaza. The group refused to ask it to lay down its weapons or leave its territory.
Israel has issued a comprehensive evacuation order for parts of Northern Gaza ahead of its expected expansion in its ground operations. The UN Humanitarian Office said that since Israel abruptly ended its ceasefire with Hamas, about 280,000 Palestinians have been displaced, which has contributed to the United States, Egypt and Qatar.
To pressure Hamas, Israel imposed a one-month lockdown on food, fuel and humanitarian aid, which puts civilians in an acute shortage, a strategy that rights groups are war crimes as supply drops. Israel said earlier this week that enough food has entered Gaza during the six-week truce to maintain the territory’s approximately 2 million Palestinians.
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians and hijacking 251 hostages, most of which have been released in the ceasefire agreement and other transactions. Israel rescued eight living hostages and recovered dozens of bodies.
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, more than 50,000 Palestinians were killed in Gaza as part of the Israeli offensive, which does not say whether those killed were civilians or combatants. The ministry said more than half of the people killed were women and children. Israel said it has killed about 20,000 militants and provided no evidence.
Jennifer Jacobs contributed to the report.
