Trump calls on Netanyahu to end Gaza conflict and stop Iran

Trump calls on Netanyahu to end Gaza conflict and stop Iran

US President Donald Trump has called on Israel to end the war in Gaza and refrain from attacking Iran, sources familiar with the conversation said. In a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, Trump said the conversation went “very well, very harmoniously.”

Urgency of a change of course

The call for Israel to rethink its strategy comes at a time when Washington is interested in a nuclear deal with Iran and is in indirect talks with Hamas about a ceasefire in Gaza. CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.

Progress in negotiations

Netanyahu gathered his key ministers on Tuesday evening after there was "some progress" in ceasefire negotiations, his office said. The meeting served to discuss current developments and plan next steps.

On the same day, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said there was also progress in ceasefire negotiations to bring back hostages held in Gaza. "Israel is committed to securing a deal on the hostages. There has been some progress recently," Sa'ar said in a news conference in Jerusalem. However, he expressed caution: “Given past experiences, I don’t want to overstate anything at this point.”

Hamas statement

In a statement, Hamas said it remained open to the ceasefire proposed by US special envoy Steve Witkoff, but needed stronger guarantees against Israeli attacks. In a televised address, Khalil Al-Hayya, a senior official in the militant group, said that Hamas had not rejected Witkoff's proposal but had submitted amendments with stronger security guarantees. Hamas demands that any agreement include a permanent end to the war in Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

Growing differences between Trump and Netanyahu

Trump and Netanyahu appear to have increasingly divergent views on the war in Gaza as the conflict continues for more than 20 months. Netanyahu has made it clear that his war goals include the complete disarmament and removal of Hamas. Trump, on the other hand, is pushing for an end to the war.

This is one of several important issues in the region where growing differences between the US and Israel are becoming apparent. In recent weeks, the Trump administration bypassed Israel during a trip to the Middle East and reached a ceasefire with the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen that did not stop ballistic missile attacks on Israel. Sanctions against Syria have also been lifted, while Israel warns against legitimizing a regime led by former jihadists.

A call for de-escalation

In the conference call, Trump told Netanyahu to stop talking about attacking Iran. Netanyahu, on the other hand, had repeatedly reiterated that a military option was being considered to stop Iran's nuclear program. In his conversation with Trump, Netanyahu said that Iran only wanted to buy time and was not seriously interested in negotiations.

The Abraham Accords and the Path to Normalization

The Trump administration is also trying to expand the Abraham Accords, a series of agreements from Trump's first term that allowed Israel to normalize relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco. But Saudi Arabia has made clear that it will not normalize relations with Israel without concrete steps toward recognizing a Palestinian state and a plan to implement the two-state solution.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said this week that a two-state solution is no longer the goal of U.S. policy, as it was for decades under both Republican and Democratic administrations. “Without significant change, there will be no room for this,” Huckabee said in an interview with Bloomberg News in Jerusalem. He emphasized that this will not happen “in our lifetime.” Huckabee has previously advocated for Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and once said there is "actually no Palestinian people."

At the start of the war, Trump unveiled vague plans for a “Gaza Riviera” that would involve U.S. control of the coastal strip and the displacement of large swaths of the Palestinian population living there.