Feb. 6 (UPI) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with influential members of Congress on Capitol Hill on Thursday to discuss proposals addressing the Gaza Strip as a cease-fire continues between Israel and Hamas.
Netanyahu’s meeting schedule on Thursday includes Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.; and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, the Times of Israel and CNN reported.
Netanyahu also met with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., while President Donald Trump is meeting with members of the House GOP caucus to discuss his proposal to rebuild Gaza and possibly relocate its nearly 2 million Palestinian residents to Lebanon, Egypt and other nations.
Thune on Wednesday told reporters Trump was “putting some ideas out there” regarding rebuilding the Gaza Strip, which the president has said is completely destroyed by the war between Hamas and Israel.
Trump has suggested the U.S. taking control of Gaza, but Netanyahu on Thursday said no U.S. troops would be needed to maintain peace and order in the Gaza Strip.
Blumenthal on Thursday told reporters Trump’s proposal won’t receive support in Congress.
“There’s general consensus that a forced evacuation of the Palestinians and United States troops on the ground are both unserious proposals as first articulated by President Trump and that they’re non-starters,” Blumenthal said.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., is the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations committee and also attended the meeting with Netanyahu.
Shaheen said those in attendance “reiterated the United States’ ironclad support for the security of Israel and its citizens and reaffirmed the long-standing bond between our people.”
“We discussed the importance of the full implementation of all phases of the ceasefire in Gaza and the need for Hamas to hold up its end of the deal by continuing to release all hostages, including the Americans who remain, both alive and deceased,” Shaheen said in a news release shared with UPI.
She also said Israel’s long-term security requires maintaining stability in the West Bank and working toward a viable two-state solution to the ongoing conflict between Muslim states and Israel.
That solution would include a “Palestinian state living side by side with Israel in equal measures of peace, security and mutual recognition.”
Prior to his closed-door meeting with Netanyahu, Johnson said called Trump’s suggestion for Gaza “bold decisive action to try to ensure the peace of that region” while continuing to support Israel as an ally.
The meetings with congressional leaders come after Netanyahu met with Trump on Tuesday and Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday to discuss matters in Gaza and the Middle East, where the prime minister has declared victory over Iranian proxies Hamas and Hezbollah.
During his meeting with Trump, Netanyahu presented the president with a gold pager to commemorate the 2024 intelligence operation carried out by Israel in which pagers containing small explosives blew up in the hands of Hezbollah militants.
