As Gaza Peace Deal Under Threat and Pressure Mounts for Further Attacks on Iran, Trump Hosts Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago

—I’m going to repeat this over and over again. We’ve never had a friend like President Trump in the White House. This doesn’t even compare – Netanyahu told reporters, alongside Trump, during his sixth visit to the United States in 2025. – I think Israel is very lucky to have President Trump leading the United States and, I would say, the free world right now.

• Outlook 2026: Weak diplomacy, elections and growing Israeli occupation hamper progress on Palestinian issue
• “I feel death every day”: Child with severe celiac disease faced hunger and months without treatment before dying in Gaza

Shortly before, Netanyahu met with Secretaries of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War (or Defense) Pete Hegseth.

— We have already made a lot of progress. We had about a five-minute meeting and we’ve already resolved three of the difficulties, Trump told reporters, predicting that there would be five major topics on the agenda for discussion.

Starting with Gaza. Trump, who pushed for the signing of the first phase of the ceasefire signed by Israel and Hamas in October, does not hide his impatience with the delay in the implementation of the second stage of the plan, already focused on the future governance of the enclave and the establishment of the bases for reconstruction.

Since the signing of the agreement, far from being ideal for Netanyahu, Israel has maintained its military operations in the enclave, causing dozens of deaths, and has increased the demolitions of structures in the area it still occupies on the territory, which satellite images confirm, claiming that these are actions aimed at guaranteeing the security of the country against new attacks.

Hamas, in turn, rejects the complete disarmament envisaged in the plan and demands the maintenance of light weapons, such as pistols and certain rifles. When asked when the second phase of the plan would be implemented, Trump raised the topic.

— Very quickly, as quickly as possible, but there must be disarmament, we must disarm Hamas, — declared Trump. — This is certainly one of the things we will talk about, but we need to disarm Hamas.

• Return of Trump, ceasefire in Gaza, new pope and American offensive in the Caribbean: The ten best events of 2025

The future Palestinian state, treated superficially in the proposal, is not even treated as a concrete possibility by the Prime Minister.

The eventual failure of Trump’s Gaza peace plan would replicate the outcome of a ceasefire signed days before his inauguration in January, which collapsed for weeks into an impasse over the implementation of its second phase. More than that: it would be a blow to the narrative that he “ended” eight wars under his rule, with the “end” of the conflict in the Palestinian territory being presented as a crown jewel.

— I don’t think either of them trusts the other. I’m not even sure they like each other. But the reality is that they need each other — Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told CNN.

For many Israelis, the question is not if the war in Gaza will resume, but when. Earlier this month, a survey by the Israel Democracy Institute showed that 53% of respondents believe the conflict with Hamas will resume in 2026.

• Valid until 2027: Israel extends law allowing censorship of foreign media considered “dangerous” by the country

If Trump seems reluctant, even worried, about the resumption of conflict in Gaza, the same cannot be said of Iran, which waged a 12-day air war with Israel in June and whose nuclear facilities were bombed by the United States. Before arriving at Mar-a-Lago, Netanyahu and his allies in Washington banked on the argument for further intervention, now against the country’s ballistic missile program.

The Israelis say Tehran has managed to recover part of its missile-building capacity, which they say constitutes an existential threat. In the Israel Democracy Institute survey, 69% of respondents said a new conflict with Iran would occur in 2026.

—I heard that Iran is trying to rebuild itself, and if that’s the case, we’ll have to take them down. Let’s take them apart. Let’s get this over with,” Trump said before the meeting began.

• Under UN sanctions: Iran strikes 130 billion reais deal with Russia to build new nuclear reactors

The Republican also said it would be “smarter” for Iran to seek a new deal on its nuclear program, and that “they could have made a deal last time, before we launched a major attack on them.” The White House insists it destroyed Iran’s nuclear capabilities with bombings in June, but Tehran has questioned those claims.

The last agreement, signed in 2015 with US support and torn up by Trump in 2018, provided for control of uranium enrichment activities and the amount of materials stored, in exchange for economic relief measures, which were later reversed. In September, European countries approved the full resumption of sanctions against the Iranians at the UN Security Council, alleging non-compliance with their nuclear obligations. On Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian compared diplomatic pressure on his country to “total war” and reaffirmed that he was not seeking nuclear weapons.

Contrasting with the image of a “man of peace” sold by Trump, Netanyahu made other demands of a military nature at Mar-a-Lago. The first in Lebanon, where Hezbollah’s disarmament process has stalled, despite pressure from the White House on Beirut: under the agreement that ended the Israeli offensive on Lebanese soil last year, the group was supposed to hand over its weapons and abandon its military positions in a strip near the border with Israel, but Hezbollah does not seem willing to do so. Ground and air attacks against the group have intensified and a new Israeli ground offensive is not ruled out.

Another point is Syria. Netanyahu wants to establish a buffer zone on the border and took advantage of the chaos following the fall of Bashar al-Assad last year to advance by land to the Golan Heights. New President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former jihadist who maintains good relations with Trump, believes this places his country in a “dangerous position”. Israeli insistence could also threaten Republican plans to include Syrians in the Abraham Accords, thereby creating formal ties with Israel.

— I know he (Al-Sharaa) is a tough guy, and you are not going to find a saint to lead Syria — Trump said. — I hope they get along well.

Finally, Netanyahu puts a personal agenda on the table. In October next year (or earlier, depending on the political mood), Israel goes to the polls, and polls show the prime minister’s coalition at a disadvantage. At the same time, the corruption cases against him, which have lasted for years, have resumed, despite Trump’s request to Israeli President Isaac Herzog to grant pardon to his political ally. Before the meeting, the Republican suggested the pardon was “already on the way,” but a spokesperson said that was not the case.