President Donald Trump urged Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last month to move toward normalizing relations with Israel in the wake of the October 9 Gaza ceasefire deal, according to a report published Thursday by Axios that cites two U.S. officials familiar with the call.

The conversation took place shortly after the October 13 Sharm El Sheikh Peace Conference, where Trump and leaders from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey signed a joint declaration advancing a U.S.-brokered plan to end the Gaza war. According to Axios, Trump told MBS he had “succeeded in ending the war” and expected Riyadh to take steps toward establishing full diplomatic ties with Israel.

The crown prince, Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, signaled willingness to engage with the White House on the issue, one U.S. official told the outlet.

The push comes as normalization — once seen as on the horizon before Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks — has stalled over Saudi insistence that Israel offer meaningful commitments toward Palestinian statehood. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has opposed such commitments, and Israeli public support for statehood has dropped sharply following two years of war.

Still, Trump’s comprehensive Gaza plan, which Netanyahu endorsed in September, leaves the door open. The framework says that after Palestinian Authority reforms and reconstruction of a demilitarized Gaza, “conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.”

A senior U.S. official cited by Axios paraphrased Trump’s message: “We did all the things you asked for. Now there are things President Trump wants, like normalization with Israel. So how are you guys going to move now in this direction?”

Other officials told the outlet the Saudis are still likely to demand stronger, more explicit commitments on Palestinian statehood before making significant progress.

A former U.S. official with ties to the Saudi royal court said MBS would need “concrete action and solid commitments” from Israel to sell any normalization agreement to a Saudi public that has grown more anti-Israel throughout the Gaza war.

The report surfaced just days before Trump and MBS are expected to meet at the White House. Although talks between Washington and Riyadh on normalization are ongoing, officials told Axios it remains unclear whether a breakthrough is possible during the crown prince’s visit.

Saudi officials have indicated they want the meeting to prioritize defense and investment partnerships and avoid allowing the politically charged issue of normalization to dominate the agenda.

Trump has long sought to bring Riyadh into the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and several Arab states in 2020. In 2023, during President Biden’s term, momentum toward a Saudi-Israeli deal appeared to build, with two Israeli ministers making unprecedented trips to the kingdom shortly before Hamas’s October 7 attack upended the talks.

The war and a surge in anti-Israel sentiment across the Arab and Muslim world halted progress. U.S. officials now see the Gaza ceasefire — and the broader stabilization plan Trump is advancing — as a potential opening to revive the effort, though major political obstacles remain.

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