1 month ago
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United States President Donald Trump has met Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu astatine the White House for a 2nd clip successful 24 hours to sermon a imaginable ceasefire woody successful Gaza.
The unscheduled talks connected Tuesday evening lasted conscionable implicit an hour, with nary media access, and came arsenic Israeli forces killed astatine slightest 95 Palestinians successful Gaza.
The 2 men had besides met for respective hours during a meal astatine the White House connected Monday, during Netanyahu’s 3rd sojourn to the US since the president began his 2nd word connected January 20.
Ahead of the talks connected Tuesday, Trump said helium would beryllium speaking with Netanyahu “almost exclusively” astir Gaza.
“We gotta get that solved. Gaza is – it’s a tragedy, and helium wants to get it solved, and I privation to get it solved, and I deliberation the different broadside wants to,” helium said.
Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna, reporting from Washington, DC, said “very small information” has travel retired from the latest talks, truthful “it has been hard to ascertain precisely what’s going on”.
“But the information that it was truthful hermetically sealed, the information that determination has been nary wide readout of what was discussed, the information that the gathering lasted conscionable implicit an hr – each of it whitethorn bespeak that there’s immoderate benignant of stumbling block, thing that is clouding the optimistic presumption that the 2 leaders person adopted implicit the past 24 hours,” Hanna said.
Shortly earlier Trump met Netanyahu, his peculiar envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, suggested a ceasefire woody successful Gaza is adjacent and said Washington hopes to spot an statement finalised by the extremity of the week.
He said the issues keeping Israel and Hamas from agreeing had present dropped to 1 from four.
“We are hopeful that by the extremity of this week, we’ll person an statement that volition bring america into a 60-day ceasefire. Ten unrecorded hostages volition beryllium released. Nine deceased volition beryllium released,” Witkoff told reporters astatine a gathering of Trump’s Cabinet.
But Netanyahu, speaking soon afterwards, during a gathering with the talker of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, said Israel’s run successful the Palestinian enclave was not done and that negotiators are “certainly working” connected a ceasefire.
“We person inactive to decorativeness the occupation successful Gaza, merchandise each our hostages, destruct and destruct Hamas’s subject and authorities capabilities,” the Israeli person said.
Israel’s program for Gaza
Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Jordan, said Israeli media assertion Netanyahu is facing “extreme pressure” from Trump to scope a woody connected Gaza.
“But still, there’s been nary breakthrough,” she said from the Jordanian capital, Amman.
“Israeli media is besides talking astir a hold successful the question plans of Witkoff to Doha, though earlier successful the night, helium had sounded precise optimistic astir perchance reaching a deal. Because according to him, lone 1 contented remained problematic – which is, ‘Where volition the Israeli service redeploy to?'” Odeh said.
“Now, this is important, due to the fact that Israel wants to support power implicit the metropolis of Rafah successful confederate Gaza. According to the Israeli curate of defence, Israel plans to physique a structure metropolis successful Rafah, wherever it volition ore the population, power who enters, not let anyone to leave, and past propulsion the colonisation retired of Gaza to implement, according to the Israelis, the Trump program of depopulating Gaza and taking implicit the enclave,” she added.
The program outlined by the Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, calls for the archetypal forcible transportation of immoderate 600,000 Palestinians to the structure city, followed by the remainder of the enclave’s 2.1 cardinal people.
Critics accidental the program would past pb to Palestinians being forcibly transferred to different countries.
Annelle Sheline, a probe chap successful the Middle East programme astatine the Quincy Institute, described the structure cities arsenic “concentration camps” and said the Trump medication is improbable to intervene successful the Israeli plan.
“Washington has important power implicit the details, though we did spot Trump demure erstwhile asked if helium would enactment the transportation of the involuntary transportation of Palestinians retired of Gaza, saying that radical should look to Nanyahu for that,” Sheline said.
“We cognize the radical Trump surrounds himself with thin to beryllium sycophants and radical who archer him what helium likes to hear. So I don’t expect determination are galore radical successful Trump’s orbit who are telling him, not lone would this beryllium a horrific transgression against humanity, to not lone facilitate genocide, but past transportation the survivors extracurricular of their land,” she said, adding that each of it besides does “implicate the United States”.
For his part, Trump has powerfully supported Netanyahu, adjacent wading into home Israeli authorities by criticising prosecutors implicit a corruption proceedings against the Israeli person connected bribery, fraud and breach-of-trust charges, which Netanyahu denies.
Netanyahu has meantime praised Trump, saying that determination has ne'er been person coordination betwixt the US and Israel successful his country’s history, and adjacent nominated the US person for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Israel’s warfare successful Gaza has killed astatine slightest 57,575 Palestinians and wounded 136,879 others. Most of Gaza’s colonisation has been displaced by the war, and astir fractional a cardinal radical are facing famine wrong months, according to United Nations estimates.
An estimated 1,139 radical were killed successful Israel during the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023, and much than 200 were taken captive.
Some 50 captives stay successful Gaza, with 20 believed to beryllium alive.
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