 "US President Donald Trump sitting with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. File Image / Reuters")
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday he will visit the United States later this month after being invited by President Donald Trump to the White House on 29 September.
The invitation comes as Netanyahu is due to address the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Netanyahu made the announcement during an economic press conference, confirming earlier reports that his office had requested the meeting.
He said the invitation was extended during a phone call with Trump on Monday and noted he has held several “good” conversations with the US president since Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar.
The September meeting will be the fourth between Netanyahu and Trump since the start of Trump’s second term.
When asked whether Trump was notified in advance of the strike in Qatar, Netanyahu said the White House account was “correct” and stressed that Israel acted independently and was solely responsible for the operation.
Israeli troops push into Gaza
The development comes as Israel has launched a major ground offensive on Gaza City, following nearly two years of war. Overnight airstrikes were followed by troops advancing into the city’s outskirts, forcing thousands of Palestinians to flee down a single coastal road, joining hundreds of thousands already displaced.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a “powerful operation” against Hamas’s “last major stronghold,” even as the UK and others voiced sharp criticism. The offensive comes as a UN commission of inquiry accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
In early August, reports said the Prime Minister’s Office was weighing a plan for Netanyahu to travel from New York to Washington after his 26 September address at the United Nations General Assembly to meet Trump at the White House.
He is expected to return to Israel ahead of Yom Kippur, which begins on 1 October.