A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is meeting with President Trump in Washington today. And a lot on the agenda, including U.S. tariffs on Israel and the return of hostages from Hamas. It's month 18 of the war, and it's been five weeks since Israel blocked all aid into Gaza after a ceasefire broke down between Israel and Hamas last month. We're joined now by NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi in Tel Aviv. So what can we expect out of this meeting?
HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, BYLINE: Well, this is Netanyahu's second visit to the U.S. since President Trump took office. The last one was in January. Netanyahu's office has said he expects to talk with Trump about the 17% tariffs the U.S. imposed on Israel. Now, Netanyahu tried to avoid getting those slapped on Israel the night before they were announced by voiding Israeli custom duties on American products, which, you know, obviously didn't work. They're also slated to talk about a new hostage deal, which, despite American intervention, broke down last month. And Israel renewed its offensive in Gaza, killing more than a thousand Palestinians in less than a month, according to health officials.
And just a reminder - last time the two met, Trump announced his vision of displacing Palestinians in Gaza and rebuilding it into some sort of Riviera resort town under U.S. ownership, which, you know, the Israeli government and military have been moving on making it a reality.
MARTÍNEZ: So you mentioned that Netanyahu will be speaking to Trump about a hostage deal. What is stalling that?
AL-SHALCHI: I mean, partly, it's because Netanyahu is actually focused on what is happening here at home. Last month, he angered some of the Israeli public by firing the head of Israel's internal security agency, known as the Shin Bet. The agency's been investigating Netanyahu's corruption charges. And it's also looking into some of Netanyahu's aides, who are being accused of receiving payments from the Qatari government. You know, Netanyahu denies all the charges. So Israelis have been protesting for weeks now, calling for new elections, an end to the war, to bring back the hostages. And they're fueled by this worry that Netanyahu's dragging out the war for his own political gains.
MARTÍNEZ: What are you hearing from inside Gaza?
AL-SHALCHI: Well, overnight, there were airstrikes across Gaza, killing over 30 Palestinians, according to the health ministry. The strikes hit shelters in Khan Younis, south of Gaza. The Israeli military says it is targeting Hamas militants. Israeli strikes also hit a tent compound housing journalists, also in southern Gaza. Health officials said two Palestinians were killed there. Journalist Alem-al Din al-Sadeq was there. He said a group of them had gathered to eat together before the strike hit.
ALEM-AL DIN AL-SADEQ: (Speaking Arabic).
AL-SHALCHI: Sadeq says he saw his colleague sitting on a chair, being engulfed in flames, and they had no water to put out the fires that caused the strike. Also something that has drawn a lot of international attention is the Israeli military's killing of 15 Palestinian emergency workers who were dug up from a mass grave last month. This weekend, Israel backtracked on its initial assessment that the rescue vehicles the emergency vehicles were in appeared suspicious. And then video of the Palestinian emergency caravan before the workers were killed actually showed the vehicles with headlights and red emergency lights on. So the Israeli military said the original account from forces were, quote, "mistaken."
MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi in Tel Aviv. Thank you very much.
AL-SHALCHI: You're welcome.
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