JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday praised a proposal from President Donald Trump for US control of Gaza and the displacement of its population as “revolutionary,” following his return to Israel from Washington.
Trump sparked global outrage by suggesting on Tuesday, during a week-long visit by the Israeli premier to the United States, that Washington should take control of the Gaza Strip and clear out its inhabitants.
On his return to Israel, addressing his cabinet, Netanyahu said the two allies agreed on war aims set out by Israel at the start of its 15-month war against Hamas including “ensuring Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel.”
“President Trump came with a completely different, much better vision for Israel — a revolutionary, creative approach that we are currently discussing” the Israeli prime minister said, referring to the president’s Gaza plan.
“He is very determined to implement it and I believe it opens up many, many possibilities for us,” Netanyahu added.
Despite criticisms from international allies and Arab states in particular, Trump on Thursday doubled down on the plan, saying the “Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting.”
“No soldiers by the US would be needed! Stability for the region would reign!!!” he wrote in social media post.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz later on Thursday ordered the army to prepare for “voluntary” departures from Gaza.
“This visit, and the discussions we had with President Trump, carry with them tremendous achievements that could ensure Israel’s security for generations,” Netanyahu said.
Washington on Friday announced the approval of the sale of more than $7.4 billion in bombs, missiles and related equipment to Israel.
The State Department signed off on the sale of $6.75 billion in bombs, guidance kits and fuses, in addition to $660 million in Hellfire missiles, according to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA).
Israel launched a hugely destructive offensive against Hamas in Gaza in October 2023 in response to the Palestinian militant groups October 7 attack.
The war has devastated much of the Gaza Strip — a narrow coastal territory on the eastern Mediterranean — but a ceasefire has been in effect since last month that has brought a halt to the deadly conflict and provides for the release of hostages seized by Hamas.
Israel’s Netanyahu says Trump plan for Gaza ‘revolutionary’
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Israel’s Netanyahu says Trump plan for Gaza ‘revolutionary’
- Washington on Friday announced the approval of the sale of more than $7.4 billion in bombs, missiles and related equipment to Israel
54 people killed in overnight airstrikes on southern Gaza city, hospital says
- Some bodies arrived in pieces, with some body bags containing the remains of multiple people
- There had been hope that Trump’s regional visit could usher in a ceasefire or renewal of humanitarian aid to Gaza
KHAN YOUNIS: A hospital in southern Gaza says 54 people have been killed in overnight airstrikes on the city of Khan Younis.
An Associated Press cameraman in Khan Younis counted 10 airstrikes on the city overnight into Thursday, and saw numerous bodies taken to the morgue in the city’s Nasser Hospital. Some bodies arrived in pieces, with some body bags containing the remains of multiple people. The hospital’s morgue confirmed 54 people had been killed.
It was the second night of heavy bombing, after airstrikes Wednesday on northern and southern Gaza killed at least 70 people, including almost two dozen children.
The strikes come as US President Donald Trump visits the Middle East, visiting Gulf states but not Israel. There had been widespread hope that Trump’s regional visit could usher in a ceasefire deal or renewal of humanitarian aid to Gaza. An Israeli blockade of the territory is now in its third month.
Trump heads to UAE as it hopes to advance AI ambitions
- A string of business agreements has been inked during Trump’s four-day swing through the Gulf region
DOHA: US President Donald Trump was due to end a brief trip to Qatar with a speech to US troops on Thursday then fly to the United Arab Emirates, where leaders hope for US help to make the wealthy Gulf nation a global leader in artificial intelligence.
The US has a preliminary agreement with the UAE to allow it to import 500,000 of Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips a year, starting this year, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
The deal would boost the country’s construction of data centers vital to developing artificial intelligence models.
A string of business agreements has been inked during Trump’s four-day swing through the Gulf region, including a deal for Qatar Airways to purchase up to 210 Boeing widebody jets, a $600 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia to invest in the US and $142 billion in US arms sales to the Kingdom.
The trip has also brought a flurry of diplomacy. Trump made a surprise announcement on Tuesday that the US will remove longstanding sanctions on Syria and subsequently met with Syrian interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa.
On Thursday, Trump will address US troops at the Al Udeid Air Base, which is in the desert southwest of Doha and hosts the largest US military facility in the Middle East. He then flies to Abu Dhabi to meet with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and other leaders.
AI is likely to be a focus for the final leg of Trump’s trip.
Former President Joe Biden’s administration had imposed strict oversight of exports of US AI chips to the Middle East and other regions. Among the Biden administration’s fears were that the prized semiconductors would be diverted to China and buttress Beijing’s military strength.
Trump has made improving ties with some Gulf countries a key goal of his administration. If all the proposed chip deals in Gulf states, and the UAE in particular, come together, the region would become a third power center in global AI competition after the United States and China.
Trump had dangled the possibility of making a side trip to Turkiye to join Russia-Ukraine talks before returning to Washington, but a US official said on Wednesday that the president would not make that stop.
Two Israelis, one pregnant, wounded in occupied West Bank: authorities
- Bruchin is an Israeli settlement built on West Bank land without the Israeli authorities’ approval which was retroactively legalized by the Israeli government
JERUSALEM: Two Israeli civilians including a pregnant woman were wounded on Wednesday when shots were fired at their vehicle in the occupied West Bank, according to Israeli authorities.
An Israeli army statement said “a terrorist opened fire on an Israeli vehicle” near Bruchin, an Israeli settlement in the center of the Palestinian territory considered illegal under international law.
“Two Israeli civilians were wounded” in the attack and are being treated, the statement added.
The Beilinson hospital said a woman taken there was pregnant.
“Medical teams are currently fighting in the traumatology ward to save the life of the woman and that of her fetus,” a hospital spokesperson said.
Emergency services had earlier said the woman driver, who was aged about 30, was “in a critical state with gunshot wounds.”
A male passenger around the age of 40 was “in a grave state,” emergency services added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was “deeply shocked by the horrific terrorist attack against a woman in advanced pregnancy and her husband.”
“This abhorrent incident precisely reflects the difference between us, who desire and bring life, and the reprehensible terrorists, whose goal is to kill us and destroy life,” he said in the statement released by his office.
Since the beginning of the Gaza war, sparked by Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, the West Bank has seen an upsurge in violence.
Bruchin is an Israeli settlement built on West Bank land without the Israeli authorities’ approval which was retroactively legalized by the Israeli government.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory are considered illegal under international law.
US-backed aid group to start work in Gaza by end of May
- The newly created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation will instead distribute aid in Gaza from so-called secure distribution sites
UNITED NATIONS/WASHINGTON: A US-backed humanitarian organization said on Wednesday that it would launch operations in Gaza by the end of May and has asked Israel to allow aid to start flowing into the enclave now under existing procedures until it is set up.
No humanitarian aid has been delivered to Gaza since March 2, and a global hunger monitor has warned that half a million people face starvation, a quarter of the enclave’s population. Since the war in Gaza began in October 2023, aid deliveries have been handled by international aid groups and UN organizations.
The newly created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation will instead distribute aid in Gaza from so-called secure distribution sites, but said Israel’s current plan to only allow a few such sites in southern Gaza needed to be scaled up to include the north.
“GHF emphasizes that a successful humanitarian response must eventually include the entire civilian population in Gaza,” the foundation’s executive director, Jake Wood, wrote in a letter to the Israeli government.
“GHF respectfully requests that Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) identify and deconflict sufficient locations in northern Gaza capable of hosting GHF operated secure distribution sites that can be made operational within thirty days,” he wrote.
He asked Israel to facilitate the flow of enough aid “using existing modalities” until GHF’s distribution infrastructure is fully operational, saying this is essential to “alleviate the ongoing humanitarian pressure, as well as decrease the pressure on the distribution sites during our first days of operation.”
US security firm UG Solutions and US-based Safe Reach Solutions, which does logistics and planning, would be involved in the foundation’s operations, said a source familiar with the plans, speaking on condition of anonymity.
UN, AID GROUPS CONCERNED
Following the GHF announcement, the International Committee of the Red Cross said concerns about aid distribution remained.
“Humanitarian aid should not be politicized nor militarized. The level of need among civilians in Gaza right now is overwhelming, and aid needs to be allowed to enter immediately and without impediment,” said ICRC spokesperson Steve Dorsey.
Israel has accused Hamas of stealing aid, which the Palestinian militant group denies, and is blocking humanitarian deliveries until Hamas releases all remaining hostages.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said earlier on Wednesday that Israel endorsed what he called “the American humanitarian plan.” Israel’s mission to the UN did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wood’s letter.
