'His place is with ICC' — Protests as Trump meets Netanyahu at White House

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has arrived at the White House to meet Donald Trump to discuss the truce with Palestinian resistance group Hamas, as the US president's Middle East envoy said war-battered Gaza would remain uninhabitable for years.

Netanyahu's arrival ignited pro-Palestine protests outside the White House.

After Trump claimed credit for securing the Israel-Hamas truce after more than 15 months of Israel's genocidal war, he was likely to urge his ally Netanyahu to stick to the deal — parts of which have yet to be finalised.

On Tuesday, Israel said hours ahead of the White House talks it was sending a team to mediator Qatar to discuss the second phase of the agreement, which could lead to a more permanent end to the war.

Hamas said on Tuesday negotiations for the second phase had begun, with spokesman Abdel Latif al-Qanou saying the focus was on "shelter, relief and reconstruction".

Trump has touted a plan to "clean out" Gaza, calling for Palestinians to move to Egypt or Jordan.

Both countries have flatly rejected this, and on Tuesday their leaders stressed "the need to commit to the united Arab position" that would help achieve peace, according to the Egyptian presidency.

Palestinians of Gaza have also denounced Trump's idea.

"Trump thinks Gaza is a pile of garbage — absolutely not," said 34-year-old Hatem Azzam, a resident of the southern city of Rafah.

"Trump and Netanyahu must understand... we will not leave."

Before the leaders' meeting, Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff told reporters that "when the president talks about 'cleaning it out,' he talks about making it habitable".

Witkoff said it was "unfair" and "preposterous" to suggest Gaza can be rebuilt and made habitable within five years of the war's end.

Netanyahu's 'place is with the ICC'

Neturei Karta, a US-based Jewish group opposing Netanyahu's visit to White House, said "anti-Zionist Jews will join multiple protests today against the war criminal Netanyahu. He does not speak in the name of the Jewish people. His place is with the ICC, facing accountability for his actions."

"Do not give respect, support and sympathy to Netanyahu and his state of Israel," Yisroel Dovid Weiss of Neturei Karta told TRT World.

"Stop its footsteps, just like South Africa, apartheid was stopped."

This is Netanyahu's first trip outside Israel since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants in November for him, accusing him of crimes against humanity during the genocidal war in Gaza.

Washington does not recognise ICC's authority over its citizens or territory.

Meanwhile, advocates, including officials from the US Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO), Code Pink, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and Americans for Justice in Palestine Action (AJP Action), warned that Trump's support for Netanyahu undermines peace efforts and humanitarian aid.

"President Trump has made a commitment to making America great again. It is imperative that he prioritise American interests, and does not allow himself to be dictated by an Israeli prime minister," said USCMO's Secretary General Oussama Jammal.

Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink (Women for Peace), said Netanyahu wants more money from US taxpayers and more weapons from the US.

"He wants to not carry out the ceasefire (in Gaza). He does not want phase two and phase three of the ceasefire because he does not want to remove the Israeli military from Gaza. He wants to drag the US into a war with Iran, something he has been trying to do for many, many years," she said at the news conference.

Nihad Awad, the executive director and co-founder of CAIR, called it a "sad day" for hosting the Israeli prime minister.

Osama Abu Irshaid, the executive director of AJP Action and American Muslims for Palestine, said that Netanyahu is in Washington not to seek peace, but rather to perpetuate genocide in Gaza and to continue war crimes in the West Bank.

'Redrawn the map'

Under the ceasefire, Hamas and Israel have begun exchanging captives held in Gaza for prisoners in Israeli custody.

Netanyahu, the first foreign leader hosted by Trump since his return to office, said before leaving for Washington that Israel had "redrawn the map" of the Middle East since the war began and drew in regional allies of Hamas.

"I believe that working closely with President Trump we can redraw it even further, and for the better," he said.

Trump may seek to offer Netanyahu incentives to stick to the truce, such as reviving efforts towards a normalisation deal with Saudi Arabia which froze with the Gaza genocide.

Trump said on Sunday talks with Israel and other Middle Eastern countries were "progressing" — before warning that he had "no assurances" that the Gaza truce would hold.

Violence in West Bank and revised Gaza death toll

Since the ceasefire took effect on January 19, Israel has launched a deadly incursion against Palestinian fighters in the occupied West Bank's north.

UN and Palestinian officials said Israel's invasion has pushed more than 5,000 families out of Jenin and another refugee camp in the northern West Bank since December.

Asked how he viewed a possible annexation of the occupied West Bank, Trump did not rule this out, telling reporters that Israel was "a small country in terms of land".

Under the Gaza truce's ongoing 42-day first phase, 18 captives have been freed so far in exchange for some 600 mostly Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.

The truce has also led to a surge of food, fuel, medical and other aid into Gaza, and allowed people displaced by the war to return to the north of the Palestinian territory.

At least 61,709 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's genocidal war on Gaza since October 2023, local authorities said on Sunday.

"Only 47,487 bodies were transferred to hospitals, while 14,222 remained missing under the rubble," Salama Marouf, who heads Gaza's government media office, told a news conference in Gaza City.

He said the victims included 17,881 children, including 214 newborn babies, adding more than 38,000 Palestinian children were orphaned by the Israeli war.