Trump claims Gaza peace deal 'very close' as he hosts Netanyahu at White House
Donald Trump says he is "confident" about peace in Gaza as he welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House.
Donald Trump has said a deal on Gaza is "very close" as he welcomes Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House.
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The US President is hosting the Israeli Prime Minister to discuss a 21 point peace plan.
This would include a ceasefire and the release of all the remaining hostages.
48 hostages are still held captive in Gaza by Hamas, around 20 of them believed to be alive.
The move comes amid a wave of heavy international pressure to end the war with mutiple Western nations - including the UK - formally recognising an independent Palestinian state.
Ceasefire talks have stalled since Israel's widely condemned strike in Doha.
Last week, the government confirmed it recognises the state's provisional borders based on the 1967 lines, before Israel occupied the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
The European Union is considering sanctions against Israel and there are growing moves for a sports and cultural boycott against Israel.
On Friday, dozens of delegates poured out of the hall at the UN General Assembly in protest of Netanyahu's appearance.
However, the defiant Israeli PM told fellow world leaders that his nation "must finish the job" against Hamas in Gaza.
More than 66,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war, Gaza's Health Ministry has said, a day before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads to the White House for talks with US President Donald Trump on halting the ongoing offensive in Gaza.
The ministry said in its daily report on Sunday that the death toll has now climbed to 66,005, with a further 168,162 injured since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack which sparked the war.
Among the dead were 79 who were brought to hospitals in the past 24 hours, it added.
Israel's offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza, displaced around 90% of the population and caused a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, with experts saying Gaza City is experiencing famine.
The health ministry, part of the Hamas-run administration, does not differentiate between civilians and militants in its death toll, but has said women and children make up around half the dead.
Its figures are seen as a reliable estimate by the UN and many independent experts.
