Reuters
Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Thursday he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their last meeting in July to quickly end Israel’s war in Gaza.
‘I encouraged him to get this over with,’ Trump told reporters at a press conference on Thursday. ‘It has to get over with, fast… Get your victory and get it over with. It has to stop, the killing has to stop.’
Trump was referring to his meeting with Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago residence in late July, when Netanyahu visited the United States. He also met President Joe Biden and Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris during his trip.
There has been an increased risk of a broader war in the Middle East after the recent killings of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas’ leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran and Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut. Both drew threats of retaliation against Israel.
Netanyahu’s office and Trump have both separately denied an Axios report that said they had spoken about the recent Gaza ceasefire and hostage release talks.
The Axios report cited two U.S. sources. One source said the reported call was intended to encourage Netanyahu to take the deal, but stressed he did not know if this is indeed what the former president told Netanyahu.
Egypt, the United States and Qatar have scheduled a new round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations this week.
Washington, Israel’s most important ally, has said that a ceasefire in Gaza will reduce the rising threat of a wider war.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked Israel and took about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s subsequent assault on the Hamas-governed enclave has since killed over 40,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry, while also displacing nearly the entire population of 2.3 million, causing a hunger crisis and leading to genocide allegations at the World Court that Israel denies.