Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who arrived in Washington on Sunday, plans to extend his visit stateside until Saturday night, his office said, reportedly citing “many requests by U.S. officials who want to meet him.”
The Israeli leader had originally planned to fly home on Thursday.
The trip comes at a crucial time, as Israel maintains tenuous ceasefires with Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon and with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, on Monday evening, according to the latest itinerary that Netanyahu’s office released to the press.
That discussion will likely mark the start of the negotiations of phase two of the ceasefire-for-hostages deal between Israel and Hamas, in which Israel is to withdraw entirely from Gaza in exchange for the release of the remaining living hostages and a permanent cessation of hostilities.
Reporters asked U.S. President Donald Trump during a signing ceremony on Monday in the Oval Office if he thought that ceasefire would last.
“I have no assurances that it will hold,” Trump said. “I’ve seen people brutalized. Nobody’s ever seen anything like it. No, I have no guarantees that the peace is going to hold.”
Trump passed the question to Witkoff, who said of the ceasefire that “so far, it’s holding.”
“We’re certainly hopeful,” Witkoff added. “That’s the president’s direction: Get the hostages out, save lives and come to, hopefully, a peaceful settlement of it all.”
On Tuesday, Netanyahu is scheduled to meet Trump at the White House as the first foreign leader to visit the executive mansion since Trump began his second term.
On Sunday, Netanyahu’s office stated that when he was welcomed at the Blair House, the director of the official residence adjacent to the White House “told him that this was Prime Minister Netanyahu’s 14th visit to Blair House—much more than any other foreign leader in its history since it was built in the 19th century.”
Netanyahu’s Wednesday and Thursday itineraries include meetings with U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and congressional leadership.
U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) confirmed that he and Netanyahu would sit down in the speaker’s office on Thursday.
“We need to be supporting Israel right now as strongly as ever,” Johnson stated. “It’s a critical time in the Middle East, and they’ve got a real dilemma on their hands. I think President Trump is going to echo that.”
“I think Marco Rubio is doing a great job at State already,” Johnson added. “Everyone in the world needs to know that America stands with Israel, and we will.”
