What Trump said after Hamas’s response to his Gaza ceasefire plan
The US president made an unprecedented video address in response to Hamas’s acceptance of major points in his plan for Gaza and the Palestinian movement’s call for more negotiation on key details.
Here’s what President Trump said:
I want to thank the countries that helped me put this together: Qatar, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and so many others. So many people fought so hard.
This is a big day. We’ll see how it all turns out. We have to get the final word down in concrete.
Very importantly, I look forward to having the hostages come home to their parents and having some of the hostages – unfortunately, you know the condition they are in – come home likewise to their parents because their parents wanted them just as much as though that young man or that young woman were alive.
So, I just want to let you know that this is a very special day. Maybe unprecedented in many ways. It is unprecedented.
But thank you all, and thank you all to those great countries that helped. We were given a tremendous amount of help. Everybody was unified in wanting this war to end and seeing peace in the Middle East. And we are very close to achieving that.
Thank you all, and everybody will be treated fairly.
Not a word about the people suffering in Gaza nor the 11,000 Palestinian prisoners being tortured in Israeli jails.
But it looks like Trump is having an effect!
Israeli government orders military to reduce Gaza operations: Report
Israel’s government has ordered the Israeli military to “halt the operation to conquer Gaza”, according to Army Radio, a state-funded radio network operated by Israel’s army.
Army Radio’s military correspondent, Doron Kadosh, said Israel’s “political echelon” had instructed the military to reduce activity “to a minimum” and only “carry out defensive actions” in Gaza.
“The practical implication: the operation to conquer [Gaza City] has been blocked – and halted for now,” he said in a post on X.
Israeli army told to prepare to implement first stage of Trump plan
The Israeli military has now issued its first statement following recent developments, saying in a post on X that its Chief of the General Staff Eyal Zamir “convened a special situation assessment” overnight with the military’s top brass.
“In accordance with the directive of the political echelon, the Chief of the General Staff instructed to advance readiness for implementing the first stage of the Trump plan for the release of the hostages,” the military said.
“Alongside this, it was emphasised that the security of our forces is of the utmost priority and that all [Israeli military] capabilities will be allocated to the Southern Command for the protection of our forces,” it added.
