Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with President Trump in the Oval Office of the White House, Feb. 4, in Washington, D.C.
Evan Vucci/AP
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Evan Vucci/AP
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in Washington for a second meeting since President Trump took office and as Israel’s war in Gaza marks a year and a half. Netanyahu says he expects to discuss efforts to release Israeli hostages from Gaza, as well as new U.S. tariffs.
The Trump administration imposed 17% tariffs on Israel as part of new trade measures on goods from many countries.
Netanyahu is facing pressure at home from former Israeli security chiefs, protesters and the families of hostages still held in Gaza to return to ceasefire negotiations, which his far-right coalition has resisted.
The meeting with Trump comes on the 18-month mark since Israel’s war in Gaza began, following the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel. Israel has ramped up its military offensive since ending two months of ceasefire. It has also enforced five weeks of a blockade on aid and goods into the Gaza Strip.
Human rights groups and the United Nations have criticized the blockade saying it violates international law.
Israel’s government says it is seeking to increase pressure on Hamas to release all hostages and eventually eliminate the militant group.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says nearly 60 people were killed in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours across the territory.
In one incident overnight, an Israeli airstrike hit a tent where journalists were sheltering in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, killing two people and injuring nine others, according to health officials in Gaza. The Israeli military has not commented on the attack.
Journalist Alem-Al Din al-Sadeq said a group had gathered to eat together before the strike hit.
“I saw my colleague sitting on a chair engulfed in flames,” he said. “We have no water to put out the flames.”
Other airstrikes hit central Gaza, trapping a family of 15 under the rubble. One attack killed four women and a child in a different area of central Gaza. The densely packed areas were targeted, Israel’s military says, because rockets were fired from there toward Israel on Sunday.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Anas Baba contributed reporting from Gaza.
