Trump to host Netanyahu, Gantz in White House

US President Donald Trump will hold back-to-back meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli centrist party leader Benny Gantz on Monday where he will likely share some details of his Middle East peace plan, a US source familiar with the plan said on Sunday.

Trump will meet first with Netanyahu and then with Gantz, who is Netanyahu’s chief domestic political rival, the source said, with talks continuing on Tuesday.

Netanyahu has said he would meet with Trump on both days.

Gantz has said he would meet with the US president on Monday.

Meanwhile, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said on Sunday that the Middle East peace plan US President Donald Trump is expected to unveil next week “will not pass” and could lead to renewed Palestinian violence.

“We firmly declare that the ‘deal of the century’ will not pass. The new plot aimed against Palestine is bound to fail,” and could lead the Palestinians to a “new phase in their struggle” against Israel, Haniyeh said in a statement.

Shortly after Haniyeh’s statement, a rocket was fired from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip toward Israel, the Israeli army said.

The army said it had carried out airstrikes on Hamas targets in Gaza late Saturday, in response to the launching of incendiary devices attached to balloons sent over from the Palestinian enclave.

Hamas did not claim responsibility for Sunday’s rocket attack but warned it was “time... to restore the rights of Palestinians with a new phase of fighting against Israeli occupation.”

Hamas also called for talks in Cairo with other Palestinian factions, including the Fatah movement led by president Mahmud Abbas, in order to form a common response to Trump’s plan.

The Palestinian leadership was not invited to the US talks and has rejected Trump’s initiative amid tensions over his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s undivided capital.