President Donald Trump shakes the hand of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (Photo: AP) US President Donald Trump has said that a deal to end the nearly two-year war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is close. Trump made the announcement during a joint briefing with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the Oval Office on Thursday.
“We want to get Gaza over with,” Trump said.
“I think we’re close to getting some kind of deal done,” he adds.
“We want to get the hostages back, I have to get the hostages back,” the US President said, adding that there are around 20 living hostages and around “38 or so dead hostages”.
“Pretty sad, and the parents of those dead souls, those dead, mostly men, boys, many cases, they want those bodies back so badly,” he says.
Trump reiterated he believes “we’re going to be close to a deal”.
In the past few days, the Trump administration, including the President himself, the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, has been holding extensive deliberations with various stakeholders, including heads of state from Muslim countries, to end the war in Gaza and return the hostages.
21-point peace plan for the Middle East
On Wednesday, both Witkoff and Rubio had expressed confidence that “some sort of breakthrough” on Gaza would be achieved in the coming days.
Witkoff said US President Donald Trump’s 21-point peace plan for the Middle East and Gaza was presented to leaders of several Muslim-majority countries on Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
‘Israel won’t annex West Bank’
According to a report by Politico, Trump has addressed one of the biggest concerns expressed by Arab leaders during their meeting. Trump promised Arab and Muslim leaders that he would not allow Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex the West Bank.
