Netanyahu to meet Trump at White House next week amid Iran war escalation

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House next Tuesday, the PM's office said.

It added that the meeting coincides with Netanyahu's visit for the funeral of Senator Lindsey Graham. The Republican, who was one of the staunchest supporters of Israel in Washington, died suddenly last week.

"At President Trump's invitation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will depart for Washington on Monday for an official visit," the statement said.

"As part of the visit, the prime minister will meet with President Trump at the White House on Tuesday and will attend the funeral service for Senator Lindsey Graham."

The visit will be Netanyahu's seventh at the White House in Trump's second term, far outpacing any other world leader and underscoring the administration's continued commitment to Israel.

It comes as the US-Israeli war with Iran has again escalated following a breakdown earlier this month of a ceasefire reached as part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the US and Iran.

Israel had opposed the MoU, with its ongoing military operations in Lebanon repeatedly threatening to derail diplomatic overtures. The Trump administration has been overseeing talks between Lebanon and Israel aimed at ending the war that do not include Hezbollah.

Both Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a plan meant to turn over Israeli-occupied areas to the Lebanese military, although the facts on the ground have remained largely unchanged since March.

Also on Friday, US Central Command said its forces completed their 13th consecutive night of strikes on Iran. Iran has retaliated daily against US assets in the region, killing three US soldiers in a strike on a base in Jordan last week.

Washington has also increasingly shifted military assets to Israel, in what some analysts see as a sign of a larger escalation on the horizon.

All told, at least 73,311 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to local health authorities, including 1,185 people since the current 'ceasefire' began.

The US visit comes as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has called on federal officials to arrest Netanyahu, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges related to war crimes committed in Gaza.

Mamdani had previously threatened to use the New York Police Department to arrest Netanyahu, but acknowledged earlier this week he did not have the 'authority to do so'.

The US is not a signatory of the ICC's founding document, the Rome Statute, and is therefore not subject to the court's jurisdiction. The Trump administration has further taken an offensive approach against the court, vowing an 'all-of government' campaign that has included sanctioning ICC officials and groups that support its investigations.

Trump has rejected the prospect of Netanyahu's arrest while in the United States.

'Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America,' he posted on Truth Social on Monday.

He instead hailed Israel's role in fighting Iran. The US Congress is also currently considering a defence budget that would see the US and Israel integrate their militaries, in a major deepening of ties.

But public opinion polls have shown Israel's standing in the US has plummeted amid the war in Gaza.

More recently, several influential right-wing figures have charged that Israel dragged the US into the war with Iran. The conflict has stretched on for five months with no end in sight.