Netanyahu-Trump meeting confirmed as Gaza ceasefire pressure grows
Rawia Alami also reports on Gaza's worsening humanitarian crisis, revealing that thousands of babies may die due to the lack of formula and a growing meningitis outbreak. We revisit Dr. Ahmed Al Farra's urgent message from Nasser Hospital.
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Asharq Al-Awsat
41 minutes ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Netanyahu Says he Believes Trump Can Help Seal Ceasefire Deal
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he believed his discussions with US President Donald Trump on Monday would help advance talks on a Gaza hostage release and ceasefire deal that Israeli negotiators resumed in Qatar on Sunday. Israeli negotiators taking part in the ceasefire talks have clear instructions to achieve a ceasefire agreement under conditions that Israel has accepted, Netanyahu said on Sunday before boarding his flight to Washington. "I believe the discussion with President Trump can certainly help advance these results," he said, adding that he was determined to ensure the return of hostages held in Gaza and to remove the threat of Hamas to Israel. It will be Netanyahu's third visit to the White House since Trump returned to power nearly six months ago. Public pressure is mounting on Netanyahu to secure a permanent ceasefire and end the war in Gaza, a move opposed by some hardline members of his right-wing coalition. Others, including Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, have expressed support. Palestinian group Hamas said on Friday it had responded to a US-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal in a "positive spirit", a few days after Trump said Israel had agreed "to the necessary conditions to finalize" a 60-day truce. But in a sign of the potential challenges still facing the two sides, a Palestinian official from a militant group allied with Hamas said concerns remained over humanitarian aid, passage through the Rafah crossing in southern Israel to Egypt and clarity over a timetable for Israeli troop withdrawals. Netanyahu's office said in a statement that changes sought by Hamas to the ceasefire proposal were "not acceptable to Israel". However, his office said the delegation would still fly to Qatar to "continue efforts to secure the return of our hostages based on the Qatari proposal that Israel agreed to". Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a demand the militant group has so far refused to discuss. Netanyahu said he believed he and Trump would also build on the outcome of the 12-day air war with Iran last month and seek to further ensure that Tehran never has a nuclear weapon. He said recent Middle East developments had created an opportunity to widen the circle of peace. On Saturday evening, crowds gathered at a public square in Tel Aviv near the defense ministry headquarters to call for a ceasefire deal and the return of around 50 hostages still held in Gaza. The demonstrators waved Israeli flags, chanted and carried posters with photos of the hostages. The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Gaza's health ministry says Israel's retaliatory military assault on the enclave has killed over 57,000 Palestinians. It has also caused a hunger crisis, displaced the population, mostly within Gaza, and left the territory in ruins. Around 20 of the remaining hostages are believed to be still alive. A majority of the original hostages have been freed through diplomatic negotiations, though the Israeli military has also recovered some.
Asharq Al-Awsat
43 minutes ago
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Trump Calls Musk's Formation of New Party ‘Ridiculous'
US President Donald Trump on Sunday slammed former ally Elon Musk's launching of a new political party as 'ridiculous,' after the tech billionaire said he wanted to challenge the country's 'one-party system.' 'I think it's ridiculous to start a third party,' Trump told reporters before he boarded Air Force One on his way back to Washington from his New Jersey golf club. 'It's always been a two-party system, and I think starting a third party just adds to confusion. Third parties have never worked,' he said. Trump added, 'So he can have fun with it, but I think it's ridiculous.' Musk, the world's richest man, spent some $270 million underwriting Trump's 2024 re-election effort and, for a time, regularly showed up at the president's side in the White House Oval Office and elsewhere. Musk spearheaded the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), aimed at cutting government spending, before he pulled back his involvement in late May, saying he would now be allocating far more time to his electric vehicle company Tesla, which reported a huge drop in profit and sales worldwide since the tech tycoon made a brief venture into Trump's inner circle. Shortly after his pull back from DOGE, the two men were exchanging bitter insults on social media after Musk criticized Trump's flagship spending bill. As the bill made its way through Congress, Musk had threatened to form the 'America Party' if 'this insane spending bill passes.' That bill passed the Senate by a narrow margin midday Tuesday. In response, Musk carried out his threat and announced that he is establishing the 'America Party.'
Al Arabiya
2 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Israel says it carried wave of strikes on Houthi areas in Yemen
Israel said early Monday that it carried out a wave of strikes on the Yemeni port city of Hodeida and other areas held by the Houthi militia. Two missiles were launched from Yemen towards Israel just hours later, the Israeli army said on Telegram, as it worked to intercept them. Israel 'struck and destroyed terror infrastructure belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime. Among the targets were the ports of Hodeida, Ras Isa, and Salif,' its army said in a statement. It said the strikes were 'in response to the repeated attacks by the Houthi terrorist regime against the State of Israel'. The Houthi-controlled Al-Masirah television station had on Sunday reported that the 'Israeli enemy is targeting the port of Hodeida,' also reporting strikes on the ports of Ras Isa and Salif and the Ras Al-Kathib power station. The attacks came around half an hour after an Israeli army spokesman warned of strikes at the sites on social media. Israel has carried out several strikes in Yemen including on ports and the airport in the capital Sanaa in response to repeated attacks by the Iran-backed group. Among the targets Israel claims to have struck was the Galaxy Leader cargo ship, which the Houthis captured in November 2023 and which the Israelis say has been outfitted with a radar system to track shipping in the Red Sea. Yemen's Houthis have been launching missiles and drones at Israel since the Gaza war broke out in October 2023. The Houthis, who say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians, renewed their assault in March after Israel resumed its military campaign in Gaza at the end of a two-month ceasefire in the Palestinian territory. They have also attacked shipping vessels they deem to be linked to Israel in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November 2023. They broadened their campaign to target ships tied to the United States and Britain after the two countries began military strikes aimed at securing the waterway in January 2024. In May, the Houthis cemented a ceasefire with the United States that ended weeks of intense US strikes against it, but vowed to continue targeting Israeli ships.
