What happened in Netanyahu's meeting with Trump?

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have begun a joint press conference following their Oval Office meeting.

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump said that Saudi Arabia has not made demands for a Palestinian state during his Oval Office meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday.

Senior Hamas officials swiftly condemned a statement by US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, accusing him of making “racist remarks” and attempting to “eliminate the Palestinian issue.” Another senior Hamas figure warned that such statements are “a recipe for chaos and tension in the region.”

Hamas officials reject Trump’s remarks

Following Trump’s recent comments reaffirming his desire for Egypt and Jordan to accept Palestinian refugees from Gaza, Hamas leaders were quick to denounce the proposal.

Izzat al-Risheq, a senior member of Hamas’s political bureau, stated on Tuesday evening: “We oppose the statements of US President Donald Trump, in which he called on the Palestinian people in Gaza to leave their homeland under the pretext of rehabilitating the Strip,” he wrote on his Telegram account.

“Trump’s statements are racist and represent a clear attempt to eliminate the Palestinian issue while disregarding our steadfast national rights. Our people in Gaza have thwarted migration and expulsion plans even under attacks for 15 months. The Palestinian people are rooted in their land and will not accept any plan aimed at uprooting them,” he added.

Sami Abu Zuhri, another senior Hamas official, told the Gaza-based Shehab News Agency, which is affiliated with Hamas, that they reject Trump’s remarks, in which he claimed that “there is no alternative for the residents of Gaza except to leave the Strip.”

U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he speaks during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 4, 2025. (credit: REUTERS/ELIZABETH FRANTZ)

Abu Zuhri warned that such statements are a “recipe for chaos and regional tensions.” He further stressed that Gaza’s residents “will not allow such plans to be implemented” and insisted that “what is needed is an end to the occupation and aggression against the Palestinians, not their expulsion from their land.”

Trump’s remarks on Gaza’s future

During a conversation with reporters, Trump stated that Palestinians in Gaza have “no alternative but to live in a site of destruction.” He added that if they had an alternative, “they would gladly leave, as individuals or as a group.”

Trump reiterated that he wants Egypt and Jordan to accept Palestinians from Gaza but clarified that he is not necessarily advocating for Israeli settlements in the Strip.

US President Donald Trump was seen walking out of the Oval Office to welcome the arrival of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a behind-the-scenes video shared by Dan Scavino, assistant to the President and White House Deputy Chief of Staff in a X/Twitter post on Wednesday.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir shared a message on X/Twitter directed to US President Donald Trump shortly after his initial meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington DC on Tuesday.

"Donald, this looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship," he wrote.
 
 
 
 

President Donald Trump told The Jerusalem Post that he believed Jordan and Egypt "won’t tell [him] no" when asked to welcome Gazan refugees during his meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office on Tuesday.

The Jerusalem Post asked Trump what would happen if Egypt and Jordan told him no to his proposal to relocate Palestinians form Gaza to their respective countries.

"They won’t tell me no. I want to remove all the residents of Gaza," he responded."It will happen."

Two different mobile billboards from two different activist groups parked drove around the White House and National Mall on Tuesday afternoon ahead of US President Donald Trump's Oval Office meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with opposing messages for the Israeli and American leaders. 

One billboard carried the message from Reservists – Generation of Victory, described as a movement uniting thousands of IDF reservists, calling on Netanyahu to continue the war until Hamas "is decisively defeated."

In a statement, Generation of Victory said the billboard trucks will be circling through Washington until Thursday. 

Back in November, veteran Channel 12 commentator Amnon Abramovich – whose antipathy toward Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on regular display – had this to say about Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Netanyahu’s right-hand man and trusted confidant:

“I don’t think he knows the difference between [singers] Arik Einstein or Zohar Argov, or Shoshana Damari or Chava Alberstein, or who [former soccer stars] Shia Glazer or Nahum Stelmach were, or the difference between Amos Kenan and Amos Oz… Ron Dermer doesn’t know where Rafah is, and if you put him in Nir Oz, he doesn’t know how to get home.”

Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff addressed reporters in front of the White House a few hours prior to US President Trump’s Oval Office meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying Tuesday marked day 17 of phase two of the ceasefire and hostage release deal.