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Washington:
President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that new negotiations were in the works aimed at getting more hostages released from Hamas captivity in Gaza.
"We're working now on another deal that we hope will succeed, and we're committed to getting all the hostages out," Netanyahu told reporters in the Oval Office.
Trump for his part said: "We are trying very hard to get the hostages out. We're looking at another ceasefire, we'll see what happens."
Netanyahu added that "the hostages are in agony, and we want to get them all out."
The Israeli leader, seated next to Trump, highlighted an earlier hostage release agreement negotiated in part by Trump's regional envoy Steve Witkoff that "got 25 out."
Netanyahu's visit follows the collapse of Israel's six-week truce with Palestinian group Hamas, whose militants launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 that triggered the Israeli invasion of Gaza.
The fragile ceasefire ended with Israel's resumption of air strikes on Gaza on March 18.
The recent truce had allowed the return of 33 Israeli hostages, eight of whom were dead, in exchange for the release of some 1,800 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
The prime minister and his government maintain -- against the advice of most hostage families -- that increased military pressure is the only way to force Hamas to return the remaining hostages, dead or alive.
Of the 251 hostages abducted during Hamas's October 7 attack, 58 remain in captivity in Gaza, including 34 who the Israeli military says are dead.
On another issue, after staying silent of late on his much-criticized idea of the United States taking over Gaza and displacing its two million people, Trump plugged it again on Monday.
"I think it's an incredible piece of important real estate, and I think it's something that we would be involved in," Trump said.
Trump has repeatedly spoken of Gaza, which the Palestinians want as part of a future state of their own, as a business opportunity for America, saying Gaza could be transformed into the "Riviera of the Middle East."
Countries around the world and in particular Arab nations have rejected this proposal vehemently, including Egypt and Jordan, where Trump has suggested the Palestinians of Gaza be sent to live.
"But you know, having a peace force like the United States there, controlling and owning the Gaza Strip would be a good thing, because right now ... all I hear about is killing and Hamas and problems," Trump said.
He added: "And if you take the people, the Palestinians, and move them around to different countries, and you have plenty of countries that will do that, and you really have a freedom, a freedom zone."
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
