WADI GAZA, 29 JAN

US President Donald Trump has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House next week as the first foreign leader to visit in Trump's second term, Netanhayu and the White House said Tuesday.

The announcement came as the United States pressures Israel and Hamas to continue a ceasefire that has paused a devastating 15-month war in Gaza. Talks about the ceasefire's more difficult second phase, which aims to end the war, begin next Monday.

The White House letter shared by Netanyahu's office, dated Tuesday, said “I look forward to discussing how we can bring peace to Israel and its neighbours, and efforts to counter our shared adversaries.”

The meeting on 4 February is a chance for Netanyahu, under pressure at home, to remind the world of the support he has received from Trump over the years, and to defend Israel's conduct of the war. Last year, the two men met face-to-face for the first time in nearly four years at Trump's Florida Mar-a-Lago estate.

Israel is the largest recipient of US military aid, and Netanyahu is likely to encourage Trump not to hold up some weapons deliveries the way the Biden administration did, though it continued other deliveries and overall military support.

Netanyahu also wants Trump to put more pressure on Iran and renew efforts to deliver a historic normalisation agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Even before taking office this month, Trump was sending his special Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, to the region to apply pressure along with the Biden administration to get the current Gaza ceasefire achieved.

But Netanyahu has vowed to renew the war if Hamas doesn't meet his demands in negotiations over the ceasefire's second phase, meant to discuss a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a “sustainable calm."