UPDATE 2 - Netanyahu meets with top US officials in Florida ahead of talks with Trump

ADDS STATE DEPARTMENT READOUT

By Rabia Iclal Turan and Yasin Gungor

WASHINGTON/ISTANBUL (AA) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with top US officials in Florida on Monday ahead of talks with President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate during his fifth visit to the US in 2025.

“I had a great meeting in Florida with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio,” Netanyahu wrote on the US social media company X’s platform after meeting with the top US diplomat.

The US State Department said in a statement that Rubio and Netanyahu discussed “regional security, economic cooperation and the fight against antisemitism.”

“Both leaders emphasized the importance of continued cooperation to promote peace and stability in the Middle East, in line with the vision of President Trump’s 20-Point Peace Plan,” it added.

The Israeli prime minister then met with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The meeting, which Netanyahu reported on X, was also attended by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine on the US side.

Shortly after arriving on Sunday, Netanyahu held a conference call with billionaire Elon Musk, who accepted an invitation to attend the Smart Transportation Conference in Israel in March, according to the Israeli Prime Minister's Office.

Netanyahu is on his fifth trip to the US since the start of Trump’s second term, with his visit coming as talks continue to advance to the second phase of the October Gaza ceasefire plan, which followed more than two years of Israel’s genocidal war on the Palestinian enclave.

The offensive has killed more than 71,200 Palestinians and injured over 171,200 others since October 2023.

Despite the ceasefire, Israel continues to keep Gaza’s crossings largely closed, preventing the entry of mobile homes and reconstruction materials and worsening the humanitarian crisis affecting over 2 million people. Palestinian officials say that at least 414 people in Gaza have been killed since the ceasefire.

The first phase of the ceasefire agreement included a halt to the war, a partial Israeli withdrawal, the exchange of all Israeli hostages—living and deceased — in return for the release of hundreds of Palestinians held by Israel, and the entry of “full humanitarian aid” into Gaza.

The second phase, outlined in Trump’s 20-point peace plan, includes a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the disarmament of the Palestinian group Hamas, the deployment of an international stabilization force (ISF), and the establishment of a Palestinian “technocratic” committee to temporarily govern Gaza.

The Axios news site reported last week, citing anonymous US officials, that Trump’s top team has grown “increasingly frustrated” with Netanyahu’s steps to “undermine the fragile ceasefire.”

Secretary of State Rubio said last week that the next step would be announcing a “Board of Peace” and the Palestinian technocratic committee followed by finalizing the ISF’s structure and mandate.​​​​​​​