WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump vowed Tuesday to be “very firm” in his stance on ending the war in Gaza when he meets next week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The remarks by the president, made during a tour of a migrant detention center in Florida, came after he said earlier that he was hoping for a truce in the nearly 21-month conflict by “sometime next week.”
The Republican leader is set to host Netanyahu at the White House on July 7 and the swift resolution of Israel’s 12-day war with Iran has revived hopes for a halt to the Gaza fighting.
Almost relentless combat in the Palestinian territory since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel has created dire humanitarian conditions for the population of more than two million.
Trump was asked Tuesday by reporters if a ceasefire could be in place before Netanyahu’s visit.
“We hope it’s going to happen, and we’re looking for it to happen sometime next week,” he said before departing for Florida.
Trump has previously urged Israel to “make the deal in Gaza,” but on the ground, Israel has continued to pursue its offensive across the Palestinian territory.
The end of Israel’s 12-day war with Iran — which followed a US bombing mission on Tehran’s nuclear sites — has provided a window of opportunity for a deal, with Trump keen to add another peace agreement to a series of recent deals he has brokered.
Asked at the detention center how firm he will be with Netanyahu on ending the war, Trump replied: “Very firm.”
“But he wants it too.... He wants to end it too,” Trump added.
The visit next Monday will be Netanyahu’s third since Trump returned to power in January, and comes on the heels of the US president making a rare intervention into domestic Israeli politics.
Trump appeared over the weekend to threaten US aid to Israel as he called in a social media post for prosecutors to drop long-running corruption charges against Netanyahu.
Netanyahu became the first foreign leader to visit Trump in his second term in February, when the US president surprised him by suddenly announcing a plan for the United States to “take over” Gaza.
The Israeli premier visited again in April.
Trump vows ‘firm’ stance with Netanyahu on ending Gaza war
https://arab.news/bycmg
Trump vows ‘firm’ stance with Netanyahu on ending Gaza war
- Asked at the detention center how firm he will be with Netanyahu on ending the war, Trump replied: “Very firm”
- The visit next Monday will be Netanyahu’s third since Trump returned to power in January
High-speed passenger train kills 7 elephants crossing railway tracks in northeast India
- Since 2020, at least a dozen elephants have been killed by speeding trains across India’s Assam state
- Wild elephants often stray into human habitations this time of year when rice fields are to be harvested
GUWAHATI: Seven wild Asiatic elephants were killed and a calf was injured when a high-speed passenger train collided with a herd crossing the tracks in India’s northeastern state of Assam early Saturday, local authorities said.
The train driver spotted the herd of about 100 elephants and used the emergency brakes, but the train still hit some of the animals, Indian Railways spokesman Kapinjal Kishore Sharma told The Associated Press.
Five train coaches and the engine derailed following the impact, but there were no human casualties, Sharma said.
Veterinarians carried out autopsies on the dead elephants, which were to be buried later in the day.
The accident site is a forested area around 125 kilometers (78 miles) southeast of Assam’s capital city of Guwahati. Railway tracks in the state are frequented by elephants, but Indian Railways said in a statement the accident location wasn’t a designated elephant corridor.
The Rajdhani Express train, traveling from Sairang in Mizoram state bordering Myanmar, was bound for the national capital of New Delhi with 650 passengers onboard when it hit with elephants.
“We delinked the coaches which were not derailed, and the train resumed its journey for New Delhi. Around 200 passengers who were in the five derailed coaches have been moved to Guwahati in a different train,” Sharma said.
Speeding trains hitting wild elephants is not rare in Assam, which is home to an estimated 7,000 wild Asiatic elephants, one of the highest concentrations of the pachyderm in India. Since 2020, at least a dozen elephants have been killed by speeding trains across the state.
Wild elephants often stray into human habitations this time of year, when rice fields are ready for harvesting.
