Trump: US-Hamas talks ‘helping Israel because we’re talking about Israeli hostages’ Washington said to suspect Israel leaked information on talks with terror group to sabotage them
US envoy indicates Hamas should release Israeli-American hostage as show of goodwill
President Donald Trump defends his administration’s unprecedented direct negotiations with Hamas, saying: “We are helping Israel in those discussions because we’re talking about Israeli hostages.”
Israel, however, is opposed to the direct US negotiations with Hamas, an official familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel earlier Thursday.
Speaking to reporters while signing executive orders in the Oval Office, Trump says, “We’re not doing anything in terms of Hamas. We’re not giving cash.” “You have to negotiate. There’s a difference between negotiating and paying. We want to get these people out,” Trump says.
US President Donald Trump repeatedly asked about the public support for a hostage deal in Israel, during a meeting with several freed hostages at the White House yesterday, Channel 13 reports.
Trump is quoted by Channel 13 as having asked if the public was “ready for a deal to release the hostages that includes the release of terrorists?”
Phase One: Already 25 Israeli hostages and the bodies of 8 more in exchange for nearly 2,000 terrorists
