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U.S. President Donald Trump said Türkiye and Israel will not face tensions, speaking Monday at a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida.
“Netanyahu and (President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan are not going to have a problem,” Trump said when asked about the potential for conflict between Ankara and Tel Aviv.
“We’re not going to have a problem. Nothing’s going to happen.”
Trump said he knows Erdogan well and described him as a friend he respects, adding that Netanyahu also respects the Turkish leader, despite strained ties between Türkiye and Israel over Gaza and developments in Syria.
Asked about the possible sale of F-35 fighter jets to Türkiye, Trump said the U.S. administration was “seriously thinking about it.”
The issue has long strained Ankara–Washington relations after the U.S. removed Türkiye from the F-35 program in 2019 following Türkiye’s purchase of Russian missile defense systems.
Trump said Erdogan “helped very much get rid of a very bad ruler of Syria” and added that he and Netanyahu had an “understanding” regarding Syria.
He said he believed Israel and Syria’s new leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, whose forces ousted Bashar Assad last year, would get along.
“I will make it so that they do get along,” Trump said.
Netanyahu said Israel wants to ensure a peaceful border with Syria. After the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, Israel expanded its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights by seizing a demilitarized buffer zone, violating a 1974 agreement with Syria.
Israeli forces have conducted near-daily incursions in southern Syria in recent weeks, particularly in Quneitra province, carrying out arrests, setting up checkpoints and destroying forested areas.
On the Gaza cease-fire process, Trump warned Hamas would have “hell to pay” if it does not disarm quickly, saying Israel was complying with the deal.
“If they don’t disarm as they agreed to do, then there will be hell to pay for them,” Trump said, adding that disarmament must happen in a short period.
Trump voiced support for Netanyahu’s position on the next phase of the cease-fire, which includes a new governing mechanism in Gaza without Hamas, the formation of a multinational force and Hamas’ disarmament.
“I’m not concerned about anything that Israel’s doing,” Trump said, adding that Israel had lived up to the plan.
Despite the truce, Israel continues to keep Gaza’s crossings largely closed, blocking mobile homes and reconstruction materials.
Local media say Israel has committed more than 400 violations of the cease-fire, killing at least 104 Palestinians since Oct. 10.
Trump said the U.S. and Israel do not agree “100%” on the West Bank but would ultimately reach a conclusion.
“We have had a discussion, big discussion, for a long time on the West Bank,” Trump said, adding that an announcement would come at an appropriate time.
Palestinian figures say Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 1,103 Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, injured nearly 11,000 and detained around 21,000 since October 2023.
Last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
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