Trump says Israel has agreed to ‘initial withdrawal line’ in Gaza
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump has said the “withdrawal line” has been shared with Hamas.
“When Hamas confirms, the Ceasefire will be IMMEDIATELY effective, the Hostages and Prisoner Exchange will begin, and we will create the conditions for the next phase of withdrawal,” he wrote.
Trump’s post includes a map of Gaza with a yellow line running through it, still well within the Palestinian enclave. The illustration appears to suggest Israeli forces will continue to control well more than half of the Strip.
Trump pushing Netanyahu to ceasefire to appease his support base
In his speech, Netanyahu was treating this as a sort of victory, bizarrely.
He said ‘we managed to get Hamas to the negotiating table through our military force’, when what actually happened was the US sees that Israel has become even more of a pariah state, which by definition then makes not only the US more of a pariah state, but also within Trump’s own Republican coalition.
Among his [Make America Great Again or MAGA] base, particularly the young people in the base, the question is, ‘Why are we part of this? ‘ ‘I thought this was America First, not Israel First?’
And this is so potent right now in the MAGA base, particularly amongst young people, the enthusiastic base, Trump needs to keep the coalition together going into the midterms, and there’s a revolt under way.
So, when Trump talks about “Bibi took it too far and Israel lost a lot of support in the world, now I’m going to get all that support back”, Trump is also talking about, by extension, his position in his party with regards to foreign policy.
Israel continuing to commit ‘horrific crimes and massacres’ in Gaza: Hamas
The Palestinian group says the continued attacks on Gaza are proof of “Netanyahu’s lies” about ceasing its military operation in the enclave after Trump’s call.
“The Zionist occupation army continues to commit its horrific crimes and massacres against our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip,” Hamas said in a statement, adding that 70 people had been killed in attacks since this morning.
The group called on the international community, including Islamic and Arab states, to take “urgent action to protect and provide relief to our people”.
“Exert all possible pressure to stop the war of extermination and starvation that has been ongoing for two years in the Gaza Strip. We call on the free people of the world to continue and escalate their solidarity activities with our Palestinian people, and to pressure the occupation to stop its aggression and crimes of extermination and starvation against Gaza,” the group added.
