President Donald Trump will be “very firm” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he said of the need to come to a ceasefire agreement with Hamas when the two meet at the White House on Monday.

Netanyahu’s third visit to Washington since the start of Trump’s second term comes after the United States and Israel’s military operations targeting Iran’s nuclear program in what the president has coined the “12-Day War.”

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Last week, Trump declared on Truth Social that after a “long and productive meeting with the Israelis,” they have “agreed to the necessary conditions to finalize the 60 Day CEASEFIRE, during which time we will work with all parties to end the War.”

Trump is hoping to announce that Israel and Hamas have agreed to a deal on Monday, according to Israeli media outlet Ynet.

Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren told the Washington Examiner that the meeting is “potentially pivotal,” and will “be a victory lap [for] two allies who have just won a war.”

Israel’s 12-day operation that targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities, ballistic missile arsenal and stockpiles, senior military leaders, and nuclear scientists stands in stark contrast with its war in Gaza, which has gone on for about 20 months.

There’s a renewed push among the mediators, which are the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar, to find a diplomatic resolution to end the war following the U.S. and Israel’s targeting of Iran.

As Trump detailed, the apparent outline of the deal — a short-term cessation of fighting while the mediators attempt to develop a long-term post-war plan for Gaza — is similar to the agreements that temporarily stopped the war in November 2023 and again from January through March 2025.

In both previous instances, the mediators were unable to reconcile the hard-line and opposing positions Hamas and the Israeli government have taken to finalize a long-term agreement. Israel resumed operations as the negotiations failed to make progress.

The current proposal reportedly calls for the release of 10 living hostages and the return of 18 hostages’ bodies, in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners, according to the New York Times.

One of the major sticking points in these conversations has been Netanyahu’s refusal to agree to end the war indefinitely, which Hamas adamantly supports because it would allow the badly beaten terrorist group to maintain however much control it still has on the Gaza Strip and regroup.

It’s unclear if either side’s positions have softened, but Netanyahu indicated last week that his haven’t.

“I am telling you, there will be no more Hamas. There will be no more Hamastan,” he said last Wednesday. “We are not going back to that. It’s over. We will free all of our hostages. ‘Really, how can one say this? These objectives are contradictory!’ What nonsense. They go together. We will complete this together, contrary to what is being said. We will eliminate Hamas down to its very foundations.”

His comments reflect the possibility that even if a ceasefire deal comes together, it may only be another temporary pause in the war and not a permanent end.

Hamas continues to hold about 50 hostages, whom the group kidnapped during its attack on Oct. 7, 2023. Of that group, about 20 are believed to be still alive. During each of the first two ceasefires, Hamas released hostages in batches in exchange for the release of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

On Thursday, Trump met with Edan Alexander, an American-born Israeli soldier who was believed to be the last living American hostage held by Hamas, released on May 12.

The Israelis launched a devastating war on Hamas after the Oct. 7 attack, which, 20 months later, has destroyed much of Gaza, including the forced displacement of nearly the entire population and the killing of about 55,000 people, a total that includes combatants and civilians.

The dominant question facing Netanyahu during this visit to Washington is whether he can “build a strategic victory out of a military triumph,” Oren said.

There are factions within Netanyahu’s governing coalition that want to continue the war even if it comes at the expense of the hostages. This right-wing part of his coalition has derailed previous ceasefire proposals.

“The Iran campaign has increased Netanyahu support and gives him a greater ability to kind of go against parts of his coalition,” Daniel Byman, the director of the Warfare, Irregular Threats, and Terrorism Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the Washington Examiner.

Similarly, Oren argued the 12-day war with Iran “strengthened” Netanyahu’s political standing and said he may be “able to display a little bit more flexibility.”

Israel’s Minister for Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, met with administration officials in Washington this past week ahead of Netanyahu’s visit.

Since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, Israel has fought against and degraded the capabilities of several of Iran’s proxy forces in the region that it had depended upon for its frequent targeting of the Jewish State. In addition to going after Hamas in Gaza, Israeli forces targeted Hezbollah in Lebanon, and are still engaging in tit-for-tat strikes with the Houthis in Yemen. It has now set back Iran’s capabilities significantly as well, which had funded and supported the proxies for decades.

IRAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM SET BACK ONE TO TWO YEARS: PENTAGON

“On Oct. 6, 2023, Iran was the dominant power. Some people thought it had established its hegemony over Syria, over Lebanon, over Iraq, and over Yemen. It had surrounded Israel with tens and tens of thousands of rockets in its proxies, what they called the ring of fire. Iran had just joined the [Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa] group of advanced economics. It had a strong alliance with Russia, providing drones and missiles to Russia to use against Ukrainians,” Oren said, going on to reference the strengthening relationship between Tehran and Beijing as well.

“The future was looking very, very bright for Iran, and everything changed since then. Iran has lost its proxies, Russia and China didn’t come to its aid. None of their proxies came to their aid, too,” he added. “Nothing.”