Rania Abu Shamala
01 December 2025•Update: 01 December 2025
ISTANBUL
US President Donald Trump has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a meeting at the White House “in the near future,” the premier’s office said Monday evening.
Netanyahu’s office said the two leaders spoke over phone and stressed “the importance and obligation of disarming Hamas and demilitarizing the Gaza Strip, and expanding the peace agreements.”
According to the statement, Trump invited Netanyahu to a meeting at the White House “in the near future,” without giving a specific date.
There was no immediate confirmation from the White House.
The phone call took place amid US efforts to ease tensions between Israel and Syria, the Israeli public broadcaster KAN said.
The broadcaster said Washington is seeking to ease tensions between Israel and Syria following an Israeli raid over the weekend, in which 13 Syrians were killed and six Israeli soldiers injured in the village of Beit Jinn in southern Syria.
Early Monday, the US president called for regional restraint.
“It is very important that Israel maintain a strong and true dialogue with Syria, and that nothing takes place that will interfere with Syria’s evolution into a prosperous state,” he said.
Trump praised Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, saying he is “working diligently” to ensure that “good things happen” for both countries.
“This is a historic opportunity ... for peace in the Middle East,” he said.
Since December 2024, Syria has recorded more than 1,000 Israeli airstrikes and over 400 cross-border raids, as well as expansion of its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights by seizing the demilitarized buffer zone, a move that violated a 1974 agreement.
