US President Donald Trump has said he hopes a ceasefire in Gaza will be reached soon, vowing to be "very firm" with Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu about ending Israel's genocide in besieged Gaza.
"We hope (a ceasefire) is going to happen and we're looking for it to happen sometime next week," Trump told reporters on Tuesday before departing the White House for the opening of a temporary migrant detention centre in the state of Florida.
Trump said he will discuss Gaza and Iran with Netanyahu next week in Washington, DC.
"He's coming here. We're going to talk about a lot of things. We're going to talk about the great success we had in Iran ... We're also going to talk about Gaza," he said.
After landing in Florida, Trump was asked how firm he is going to be with Netanyahu about ending the war in Gaza.
"Very firm," he said. "He (Netanyahu) wants to end it, too ... I think we'll have a deal next week."
His remarks came after Netanyahu confirmed that he will visit Washington next week for talks with US officials.
"I am due to leave next week for meetings in the US with US President Donald Trump," Netanyahu said in a statement ahead of a Cabinet meeting.
Netanyahu said he will also meet with Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
"We have several items to close beforehand in order to reach the trade agreement and several additional matters; meetings with Congressional and Senate leaders and security meetings, which I will not detail here," Netanyahu said.
Gaza genocide
Israel has been carrying out a genocide in Gaza since October 2023. Palestinians have recorded killings of more than 56,500 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
Some 11,000 Palestinians are feared buried under rubble of annihilated homes, according to Palestine's official WAFA news agency.
Experts, however, contend that the actual death toll significantly exceeds what the Gaza authorities have reported, estimating it could be around 200,000.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
Washington allocates $3.8 billion in annual military funding to its long-standing ally Israel.
Since October 2023, the US has spent more than $22 billion supporting Israel's genocide in Gaza and wars in neighbouring countries.
Despite senior US officials criticising Israel regarding the high civilian death toll in Gaza, Washington has, thus far, resisted calls to place conditions on any arms transfers.
Netanyahu, a habitual saboteur
Netanyahu has a record of torpedoing Gaza ceasefire agreements.
In March 2025, Netanyahu after nearly two months of relative peace in the besieged enclave, shattered the ceasefire.
In July 2024, Netanyahu scrapped a potential hostage swap deal to appease his far-right allies.
Netanyahu turned down yet another ceasefire plan — this time put forward by Hamas —in the second week of February, 2024.
During a brief ceasefire in November 2023, mediators secured a four-day truce, resulting in the release of 50 Israeli captives and 150 Palestinian detainees.
However, Netanyahu's extremist regime ended the pause after just a week, citing military priorities.
Trump has previously urged Israel to "make the deal in Gaza," but on the ground, Israel has continued to pursue its genocide across the Palestinian territory.
The end of Israel's 12-day war with Iran — which followed a US bombing mission on Tehran's nuclear sites — has provided a window of opportunity for a deal, with Trump keen to add another peace agreement to a series of recent deals he has brokered.
