Trump affirms good relations with PM Netanyahu but says US is 'looking into' whether Israel broke Gaza ceasefire

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that his administration is “looking into” whether the Israeli strike that killed senior Hamas commander Ra'ad Sa'ad was a ceasefire violation. 

Trump’s remarks came in response to a question regarding his relationship with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the strike that killed Sa'ad. 

Asked if reports about a rebuke he gave Netanyahu were true, and if Israel was violating the ceasefire, Trump responded, “No, Israel and I have gotten along very well. My relationship with Bibi Netanyahu has been obviously very good.” 

Despite reports of deteriorating relations, President Trump says he has good relations with Netanyahu, looking into whether Israel's actions constitute ceasefire violation. pic.twitter.com/Yjh6KvDVvS

— Jaime Hancock (@J_MicaAllIsrael) December 16, 2025

“Actually, I have a very good relationship with just about everybody in the Middle East,” Trump claimed. 

Trump also indicated that the U.S. would look into the situation surrounding Israel’s killing of the Hamas official. 

“We’re going to have to see, we’re looking into it,” Trump stated. 

The questions came following the publication of a report in Axios by Israeli reporter Barak Ravid, which claimed that senior Trump administration officials are growing increasingly frustrated with Israel over the lack of progress in moving to the next phase of the Gaza peace plan. 

The report claimed that the White House sent a “stern” message to Netanyahu following the elimination of Sa'ad, warning that the strike could constitute a violation of the ceasefire agreement. 

The Axios report cited an anonymous U.S. official as saying that the message told Netanyahu, “If you want to ruin your reputation and show that you don’t abide by agreements, be our guest, but we won’t allow you to ruin President Trump’s reputation after he brokered the deal in Gaza.” 

However, Channel 12's senior political analyst Amit Segal cautioned that whether Trump was indeed "angry" at Israel depended on who in the White House was being asked, as there were differences of opinion among senior U.S. officials.

Segal reported that the White House conveyed a message asking Israel to coordinate with the U.S. before future sensitive actions, but that there was no anger.

The Axios report also claimed that Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House Envoy Steve Witkoff, and presidential adviser Jared Kushner are increasingly dissatisfied with Netanyahu’s approach to various issues related to Trump’s Middle East peace initiatives, including verbal threats towards the Syrian regime, and lack of arrests and prosecution for individuals involved in settler violence in Judea and Samaria. 

“Steve and Jared are pissed by Israeli inflexibility around several Gaza-related issues,” Axios quoted an American official as saying. 

The Israeli government argues that the strike was done following several Hamas violations of the ceasefire, including the detonation of an improvised explosive device (IED), which injured two IDF soldiers. It says that Sa'ad was overseeing the rehabilitation of Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades, often through the smuggling of weapons into the enclave, in violation of the ceasefire terms. 

“The killing of Ra’ad Sa’ad, an arch-terrorist who worked day in and day out to violate the agreement and renew the fighting, was carried out in response to these violations and was intended to ensure the continuation of the ceasefire,” an Israeli official told Axios. 

The report also said that White House officials are upset with the Netanyahu government’s lack of action against increasing attacks by radical settler elements in Judea and Samaria. Israeli security officials have done little to stop settler attacks on Palestinian Arabs and Bedouin Arabs in the disputed territory, due to resistance from National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

Ben Gvir was affiliated with the radical "Hilltop Youth" movement as a youth, and while working as a lawyer, defended Israeli settlers accused of murdering Palestinians.

“The US doesn’t ask Netanyahu to compromise Israel’s security. We ask him not to take steps that are perceived in the Arab world as provocations,” an American official told Axios.