By Ryan Patrick Jones WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been invited to a meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House on Feb. 4, the prime minister's office said in a statement on Tuesday.

The visit by the envoy, Steven Witkoff, was set to take place as Israeli and Hamas officials prepared for a new round of negotiations aimed at cementing the current cease-fire in Gaza and allowing more exchanges of hostages and Palestinian prisoners.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is hoping to meet with President Donald Trump in Washington as early as next week

Israel let tens of thousands of Palestinians go back to northern Gaza for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas​, under terms of a fragile ceasefire​.

Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians began returning home to northern Gaza on Monday, bracing for what awaits them in a region that has been reduced to rubble by months of brutal bombardment and fighting.

Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians returning to their homes in northern Gaza have passed through checkpoints in a central zone of the enclave where scanners check for concealed weapons being taken in cars and vehicles.