- Trump to meet Netanyahu in push for truce deal
- Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff due to join the talks in Doha later this week
Trump has said he believes there is a "good chance" of an agreement this week for a ceasefire in the devastated Palestinian territory, hot on the heels of a truce in the war between Israel and Iran.
Trump said he also wants to discuss with Netanyahu the prospects for a "permanent deal" with Iran, Israel's regional arch-foe.
The US president -- who has expressed increasing concern over the situation in Gaza in recent weeks -- will have dinner behind closed doors with Netanyahu, their third meeting since Trump returned to power.
It was not immediately clear why Trump was taking a lower-key approach with Netanyahu this time.
Trump told reporters last week that he would be "very firm” with Netanyahu on the need for a speedy Gaza deal and that the Israeli leader also wanted to end the war.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said it was Trump's "utmost priority... to end the war in Gaza and to return all of the hostages."
Leavitt said Trump wanted Hamas to agree to a US-brokered proposal "right now" after Israel backed the plan for a ceasefire and the release of hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
The latest round of negotiations on the war in Gaza began on Sunday in Doha.
A second session was held yesterday and ended with "no breakthrough," a Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told AFP.
The Hamas and Israeli delegations were due to resume talks later yesterday, the official said.
Palestinian sources said Israel's refusal to allow the free and safe entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza remains the main obstacle to progress in the indirect talks.
An Israeli official said earlier that humanitarian aid had been discussed in Qatar on Sunday, without providing further details.
Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff was due to join the talks in Doha later this week in an effort to get a ceasefire over the line as the Gaza conflict nears its 22nd month.
In Washington, key US ally Netanyahu was to hold separate meetings with Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio before his dinner with Trump at 6.30 pm local time.
But the talks in both Washington and Doha promise to be tense.
The proposal included a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and several bodies in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel.
But the group was also demanding certain conditions for Israel's withdrawal, guarantees against a resumption of fighting during negotiations, and the return of the UN-led aid distribution system.
In Gaza, the civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 12 people yesterday, including six in a clinic housing people displaced by the war.
The war has created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip.
The rollout of food distribution by a US- and Israel-backed group in late May has been chaotic, with more than 500 aid seekers killed near its facilities, according to the UN Human Rights Office.
Israel's campaign has killed at least 57,523 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.
It has also reduced much of the enclave to rubble, destroying schools, hospitals and residential areas, and severely restricted the entry of aid.
Hamas has long demanded a final end to the war before it would free remaining hostages.