Netanyahu, Gantz invited to Washington for presentation on Trump's Mideast peace plan

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Benny Gantz were invited to a presentation in Washington on US President Donald Trump's "Deal of the Century" for Israeli-Palestinian peace, local media reported on Thursday.

The presentation would include full details of the peace plan.

The Israeli Prime Minister's Office and Gantz were not immediately available for comment on the reports.

An official announcement by the White House was scheduled to be made by Friday.

The move comes as Netanyahu and Gantz are in a tight race ahead of the general elections on March 2.

The economic part of Trump's peace plan was unveiled during a US-led conference in Bahrain last June, a convention boycotted by the Palestinians.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas severed ties with the Trump administration in 2017 after the US recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The last round of peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians broke down in 2014 amid Israeli expansion of the settlements in the West Bank.

Israel seized the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and has since controlled or blockaded them despite international criticism. The Palestinians wish to establish an independent state on these lands with East Jerusalem as its capital.