Trump, Netanyahu meet second time as gaps said to narrow in Gaza ceasefire talks
The Israeli leader departed the White House on Tuesday evening after just over an hour's meeting with Trump in the Oval Office, with no press access. The two men also met for several hours during a dinner at the White House on Monday during Netanyahu's third US visit since the president began his second term on Jan. 20.
Netanyahu met with Vice President JD Vance and then visited the US Capitol on Tuesday, and is due back in Congress on Wednesday to meet with US Senate leaders.
He told reporters after a meeting with the Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson that while he did not think Israel's campaign in the Palestinian enclave was done, negotiators are "certainly working" on a ceasefire.
"We have still to finish the job in Gaza, release all our hostages, eliminate and destroy Hamas' military and government capabilities," Netanyahu said.
Shortly after Netanyahu spoke, Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, said the issues keeping Israel and Hamas from agreeing had dropped to one from four and he hoped to reach a temporary ceasefire agreement this week.
"We are hopeful that by the end of this week, we'll have an agreement that will bring us into a 60-day ceasefire. Ten live hostages will be released. Nine deceased will be released," Witkoff told reporters at a meeting of Trump's Cabinet.
A delegation from Qatar, which has been hosting indirect talks between Israeli negotiators and the Hamas Palestinian militant group, met with senior White House officials for several hours before Netanyahu's arrival on Tuesday, Axios reported, citing a source familiar with the details.
The White House had no immediate comment on the report.
The Gaza war erupted when Hamas attacked southern Israel in October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures. Some 50 hostages remain in Gaza, with 20 believed to be alive.
Israel's retaliatory war in Gaza has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave's health ministry. Most of Gaza's population has been displaced by the war and nearly half a million people are facing famine within months, according to UN estimates.
Trump had strongly supported Netanyahu, even wading into domestic Israeli politics by criticizing prosecutors over a corruption trial against the Israeli leader on bribery, fraud and breach-of-trust charges that Netanyahu denies.
In his remarks to reporters at the US Congress, Netanyahu praised Trump, saying there has never been closer coordination between the US and Israel in his country's history.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Korea Herald
16 hours ago
- Korea Herald
Syria announces ceasefire after latest outbreak of deadly sectarian violence
Syria's defense minister announced a ceasefire shortly after government forces entered a key city in southern Sweida province on Tuesday, a day after sectarian clashes killed dozens there. Neighboring Israel again launched strikes on Syrian military forces, saying it was protecting the Druze minority. The latest escalation under Syria's new leaders began with tit-for-tat kidnappings and attacks between local Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druze armed factions in the southern province, a center of the Druze community. Syrian government forces, sent to restore order on Monday, also clashed with Druze armed groups. On Tuesday, Syrian Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra said an agreement was struck with the city's 'notables and dignitaries' and that government forces would 'respond only to the sources of fire and deal with any targeting by outlaw groups.' However, scattered clashes continued after his announcement — as did allegations that security forces had committed violations against civilians. Syria's Interior Ministry said Monday that more than 30 people had been killed, but has not updated the figures since. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, said Tuesday that 166 people had been killed since Sunday, including five women and two children. Among them were 21 people killed in 'field executions' by government forces, including 12 men in a rest house in the city of Sweida, it said. It did not say how many of the dead were civilians and also cited reports of members of the security forces looting and setting homes on fire. Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa said in a statement that he had tasked authorities with 'taking immediate legal action against anyone proven to have committed a transgression or abuse, regardless of their rank or position.' Associated Press journalists in Sweida province saw forces at a government checkpoint searching cars and confiscating suspected stolen goods from both civilians and soldiers. Israeli airstrikes targeted government forces' convoys heading into the provincial capital of Sweida and in other areas of southern Syria. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said the strikes sought to 'prevent the Syrian regime from harming' the Druze religious minority 'and to ensure disarmament in the area adjacent to our borders with Syria.' In Israel, the Druze are seen as a loyal minority and often serve in the armed forces. Meanwhile, Israeli Cabinet member and Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli called on X for al-Sharaa to be 'eliminated without delay." Manhal Yasser Al-Gor, of the Interior Ministry forces, was being treated for shrapnel wounds at a local hospital after an Israeli strike hit his convoy. 'We were entering Sweida to secure the civilians and prevent looting. I was on an armored personnel carrier when the Israeli drone hit us," he said, adding that there were 'many casualties.' The Syrian Foreign Ministry said Israeli strikes had killed 'several innocent civilians' as well as soldiers, and called them 'a reprehensible example of ongoing aggression and external interference" in Syria's internal matters. It said the Syrian state is committed to protecting the Druze, 'who form an integral part of the national identity and united Syrian social fabric.' Israel has taken an aggressive stance toward Syria's new leaders since al-Sharaa's Sunni Islamist insurgents ousted former President Bashar Assad in December, saying it doesn't want militants near its borders. Israeli forces have seized a UN-patrolled buffer zone on Syrian territory along the border with the Golan Heights and launched hundreds of airstrikes on military sites in Syria. Earlier Tuesday, religious leaders of the Druze community in Syria called for armed factions that have been clashing with government forces to surrender their weapons and cooperate with authorities. One of the main Druze spiritual leaders later released a video statement retracting the call. Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hijri, who has been opposed to the government in Damascus, said in the video that the initial Druze leaders' statement had been issued after an agreement with the authorities in Damascus but that 'they broke the promise and continued the indiscriminate shelling of unarmed civilians.' 'We are being subjected to a total war of annihilation,' he claimed, without offering evidence. Some videos on social media showed armed fighters with Druze captives, beating them and, in some cases, forcibly shaving men's moustaches. The Druze religious sect began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. More than half the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria. Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981. Since Assad's fall, clashes have broken out several times between forces loyal to the new Syrian government and Druze fighters. The latest fighting has raised fears of more sectarian violence. In March, an ambush on government forces by Assad loyalists in another part of Syria triggered days of sectarian and revenge attacks. Hundreds of civilians were killed, most of them members of Assad's minority Alawite sect. A commission was formed to investigate the attacks but no findings have been made public. The videos and reports of soldiers' violations spurred outrage and protests by Druze communities in neighboring Lebanon, northern Israel and in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights, where the Israeli military said dozens of protesters had crossed the border into Syrian territory. The violence drew international concern. The US envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, called the violence 'worrisome on all sides' in a post on. 'We are attempting to come to a peaceful, inclusive outcome for Druze, Bedouin tribes, the Syrian government and Israeli forces,' he said. (AP)
Korea Herald
16 hours ago
- Korea Herald
Thousands of Afghans secretly moved to Britain after data leak
LONDON (Reuters) -- Britain set up a secret scheme to bring thousands of Afghans to the UK after their personal details were disclosed in one of the country's worst ever data breaches, putting them at risk of reprisals from the Taliban after their return to power. Concerns that individuals could be targeted by the Taliban led the previous Conservative government to set up the relocation scheme, involving thousands of people and estimated to cost the government about 2 billion pounds ($2.7 billion). The leak by the Ministry of Defense in early 2022, which led to data being published on Facebook the following year, and the secret relocation program, were subject to a so-called superinjunction preventing the media reporting what happened, which was lifted on Tuesday by a court. British Defense Minister John Healey apologized for the leak, which included details about members of parliament and senior military officers who supported applications to help Afghan soldiers who worked with the British military and their families relocate to the UK. "This serious data incident should never have happened," Healey told lawmakers in the House of Commons. "It may have occurred three years ago under the previous government, but to all whose data was compromised I offer a sincere apology." The incident ranks among the worst security breaches in modern British history because of the cost and risk posed to the lives of thousands of Afghans, some of whom fought alongside British forces until their chaotic withdrawal in 2021. Healey said about 4,500 Afghans and their family members have been relocated or were on their way to Britain under the previously secret scheme. But he added that no-one else from Afghanistan would be offered asylum because of the data leak, citing a government review which found little evidence of intent from the Taliban to seek retribution against former officials. The review, a summary of which was also published on Tuesday, said more than 16,000 people affected by it had been relocated to the UK as of May this year, though some of those had been relocated to the UK under existing schemes. News of the leak comes as Britain's public finances are tight and the right-wing, anti-immigration Reform UK political party leads in the opinion polls. The government is facing lawsuits from those affected by the breach, further adding to the ultimate cost of the incident. Sean Humber, a lawyer at Leigh Day who has acted for Afghan citizens affected by previous data breaches, said those affected were "likely to have strong claims for substantial compensation" for the anxiety and distress caused by the leak. British forces were first deployed to Afghanistan in 2001 following the Sept. 11 attacks on the US, and they played a major role in combat operations there until 2014. In early 2022, a spreadsheet containing details of Afghans who had worked for the British government prior to the Taliban takeover in 2021 and had applied for relocation to Britain was emailed to someone outside of government systems by mistake. The superinjunction was first granted in 2023 after the Ministry of Defense, under the former Conservative government, argued that a public disclosure of the breach could put people at risk of extra-judicial killing or serious violence by the Taliban. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's center-left government, which was elected last July, launched a review into the injunction, the breach and the relocation scheme.
Korea Herald
16 hours ago
- Korea Herald
Trump says Ukraine should not target Moscow
WASHINGTON (AFP) -- US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Ukraine should not target Moscow, after the Kremlin charged that a new US plan to supply weapons to Kyiv along with sanctions threats against Russia would delay peace efforts. Trump on Monday gave Russia 50 days to strike a peace deal with Ukraine, voicing exasperation with Moscow, and announcing that NATO members would supply Kyiv with new military aid. In what would be an even more extraordinary shift, the Financial Times reported that Trump spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about providing US missiles to hit Moscow. But asked by reporters at the White House if Zelenskyy should look at striking the Russian capital, Trump replied, "No, he shouldn't target Moscow." Trump had taken office vowing to end the conflict swiftly and to stop the flow of billions of dollars of US weapons to Ukraine. The Republican put heavy pressure on Zelenskyy and initially touted his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Under pressure from Trump, Moscow and Kyiv opened talks on the conflict, which has ground on for more than three years, but the only concrete result has been prisoner exchanges. Russia has rejected calls for a ceasefire and launched a record number of drones and missiles at Ukraine in recent months. Moscow said it needed more time to respond fully to Trump's Monday announcement, but suggested it was not conducive to diplomacy. "It seems that such a decision made in Washington and in NATO countries and directly in Brussels will be perceived by Kyiv not as a signal for peace but for the continuation of the war," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "President Trump's statement is very serious. We certainly need time to analyze what was said in Washington," he told reporters in Moscow's first reaction to the comments. Trump warned that if no deal was concluded, he would slap severe tariffs on Russia's remaining trade partners in a bid to impede Moscow's ability to finance its military offensive. Pumped up by huge state spending on soldiers and weapons, as well as by redirecting vital energy exports to the likes of China and India, Russia's economy has so far defied US and EU attempts to push it into a deep recession through sanctions. Most European allies have cheered the return of a hard US line, although Slovakia, led by Moscow-friendly populist Robert Fico, has resisted new EU sanctions on Russia. But EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas also called for the United States to help fund the new weapons. "We welcome President Trump's announcement to send more weapons to Ukraine, although we would like to see US share the burden," Kallas said after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels. "If you promise to give the weapons, but say that it's somebody else who is going to pay for it, it is not really given by you." Trump has been pushing allies to step up defense spending -- and to buy from US manufacturers -- and has long said the US shoulders too much of NATO's burden. Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden -- which joined NATO after Russia sent troops into Ukraine in 2022 -- all said they wanted to participate in Trump's plan. Sweden's Defense Minister Pal Jonson in a statement to Agence France-Presse said his country "would contribute" and said Ukraine was in "great need of more air defense," given Russia's "constant bombings and attacks." Tens of thousands have been killed since Russia launched its offensive, with millions forced to flee their homes in eastern and southern Ukraine, which has been decimated by aerial attacks and ground assaults. In Moscow, residents dismissed Trump's statement as little more than politics. "It's a game of chess," Svetlana, an aviation engineer said. Trump "gave 50 days, and then there will be more. ... We are waiting for the next move of our president," the 47-year-old said. Ukrainian soldiers fighting in the east were hopeful but cautious about Trump's position. "I don't believe him. There have been too many promises that haven't been kept," said one soldier with the call sign "Shah." Others were worried it might be too little, too late. "Of course it's good, but at the same time, time has been lost. Those Patriots could have been sent sooner and could have helped a lot," another fighter called "Master" told AFP. Ruslan, a 29-year-old soldier, said, "If there is even the slightest chance to improve the situation for us and worsen it for them, then that's already positive."
