US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago club on December 29, 2025 in Palm Beach, Florida.

Donald Trump made two major claims about the Israel-Gaza conflict in a press conference with Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday – but do they stand up to scrutiny?

The US president hosted the Israeli prime minister in Florida on Monday as American officials try to push both Israel and Hamas into the second phase of its Gaza peace plan.

The strategy, adopted in October, is now meant to turn the delicate ceasefire established in the first stage, into a sustainable settlement.

While supposedly encouraging Netanyahu to pull his troops back from Gaza, Trump also claimed there “will be hell to pay” for the Palestinian militants unless they full disarm – and soon.

The president also talked up the impact he’s had on the war and outlined a rough timeline – two claims which have been efficiently taken apart in the last day...

1. The Real Impact Of The Biden Administration

The US president claimed “just about” every Hamas hostage was released by his White House team – but that’s not true.

Trump told the press: “Every hostage just about that has been released was released because of me, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner – my whole team – Pete Hegseth – they were all released because of us.

“None were released because of the Biden administration. None. Then, we had a lack of releases........

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