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.

During a joint press conference on Tuesday with Turkey's President Erdogan, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said stressed the need to "create international pressure on Israel so that it withdraws from the occupied area in southern Syria and so that it implements the 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement."

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.

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.

“We’re in phase two now,” Witkoff said.

Witkoff also said he will be meeting with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Florida on Thursday.

US officials defended President Donald Trump's suggestion that more Palestinians in war-shattered Gaza relocate to neighboring countries but insisted he was trying to look at the problem realistically and not imposing a solution.

US President Donald Trump is expected to sign a presidential memorandum on Tuesday that restores his "maximum pressure" campaign on Iran and aims to deny Iran all paths to a nuclear weapon, a US official said.

The move brings back the tough US policy on Iran that Trump, a Republican, practiced throughout his first term. Trump has accused his Democratic predecessor, former president Joe Biden, of weakening US resolve toward Iran.

The official told Reuters that Trump's directive orders the US Treasury secretary to impose "maximum economic pressure" on Iran, including sanctions and enforcement mechanisms on those violating existing sanctions.

As part of the maximum pressure effort, the Trump administration will implement a campaign "aimed at driving Iran's oil exports to zero," the official said.

US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will share "some unity" in how the US and Israel intend to pursue the second phase of the ceasefire and hostage deal, a senior Trump administration official said on Tuesday morning prior to the two leader's meeting at the White House. 

Israeli-Saudi normalization will also be a focus of the meeting, according to the official. 

"The most important thing to President Trump is to get our hostages home," the official said. "Not only in Gaza, but around the world."

Though both National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio agree that Hamas cannot govern Gaza, the official pointed out. 

US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will discuss the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal when they sit down for talks on Tuesday, a senior Trump administration official said.

Hamas has used the hostage deal and ceasefire to create staged events during the hostage releases every week. These have led to harrowing images of crowds of men surrounding the hostages, filming them and jeering at them. This is designed by Hamas to showcase its sense of victory.