Hegseth meets Netanyahu during secret visit to Israel; said to discuss 'threats in region'

Meeting held at Ovda airbase, where US jets are stationed; US defense secretary confirms previously unannounced visit to region to meet troops, but doesn’t specify location

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth held a secret meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during an unannounced visit to Israel on Monday.

A spokesman for Netanyahu confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that the meeting, first reported by Axios, took place. Doron Spielman said Netanyahu met with Hegseth at the Ovda Air Force base in southern Israel, where US fighter jets and refuelers are stationed. He said they discussed “the threats in the region,” and the US-Israel partnership in dealing both offensively and defensively with those threats.

Earlier, Hegseth confirmed that he had made an unannounced trip to the Middle East, but did not specify his location or travels, saying only that he had met with US troops while in the region.

It was not clear from the initial Axios report whether other Israeli officials or military personnel were present at the meeting, though later reports indicated Defense Minister Israel Katz attended but IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and Mossad head Roman Gofman did not.

News of Hegseth’s trip came a day after US President Donald Trump endorsed Netanyahu in next week’s election — Israel’s first since the Hamas terror group’s devastating attack on October 7, 2023, which shook the country and plunged it into war in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.

It also took place against the backdrop of talks regarding the possibility of renewed fighting against Iran, as the stalemate between Washington and Tehran stretches on with no end in sight.

A gull flies overhead as a boy stands with his bicycle on a beach overlooking commercial vessels anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, September 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

According to the Ynet news outlet, Netanyahu flew to the meeting by private plane from Ben Gurion Airport, rather than traveling by helicopter as is standard for meetings in southern Israel.

Several hours after the initial reporting, Hegseth confirmed making a trip to the Middle East, without specifying an exact location.

“It was an honor to visit our warfighters in @CENTCOM today. The best of our country, on a historic mission. Godspeed,” he wrote on X.

As always, it was an honor to visit our warfighters in @CENTCOM today. The best of our country, on a historic mission. Godspeed. pic.twitter.com/UO094Mvw1e

— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) October 20, 2026

The US Central Command is the US military command responsible for operations and policy in the Middle East.

Earlier on Monday, Netanyahu had released two videos several hours apart, both filmed at the Ramat David airbase in northern Israel.

In the first video, the prime minister warned Israel’s enemies not to test the country’s resolve, and stressed the Israeli Air Force’s “readiness, determination and capability to strike our enemies whenever required.”

The second video put out by Netanyahu on Monday night was a snippet of a phone call with Trump, in which he thanked him for endorsing him for reelection and hailed him for joining Israel in attacking Iran in February.

Netanyahu hinted at a return to war with Iran during the phone call, telling Trump that they have “a job to finish” and that they would “finish it together.”