US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he did not expect Hamas to meet a Saturday deadline to release more hostages, as the Gaza ceasefire came under increasing pressure.
Trump this week said that "hell" would break out if Hamas failed to release all Israeli hostages by the weekend, comments which Hamas said "further complicate" the release agreement with Israel.
Trump reiterated his ultimatum for Hamas to release all hostages from Gaza by Saturday or for the ceasefire with Israel to be canceled. "Yes," said Trump outside the White House while receiving Jordan’s King Abdullah II, after he was asked if the deadline he announced a day prior still held.
King Abdullah told Trump that his country would take in some 2,000 sick children from war-torn Gaza, as the US president pushed his plan to take over the territory and push out Palestinians.
Speaking at the White House, Abdullah added that Egypt would present a proposal on how countries in the region could "work" with Trump on the plan, despite Arab nations and the Palestinians having rejected it outright.
"I think one of the things that we can do right away is take 2,000 children, cancer children who are in a very ill state; that is possible," Abdullah said as Trump welcomed him and Crown Prince Hussein in the Oval Office.
Trump called it a "beautiful gesture" and said he didn't know about it before the Jordanian monarch's arrival at the White House.
Jordan’s King also told the Trump that Arab nations were united in opposition to the US president's plan to take over Gaza and push out Palestinians. "I reiterated Jordan's steadfast position against the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank," Abdullah said on social media after talks at the White House.
"This is the unified Arab position."
The US president, meanwhile, backed down on a suggestion that he could withhold aid for Jordan and Egypt if they refused to take in more than two million Palestinians from Gaza.
"I think we'll do something. I don't have to threaten that; I do believe we're above that," Trump said.
Trump stunned the world when he announced a proposal last week for the United States to "take over" Gaza, envisioning rebuilding the devastated territory into the "Riviera of the Middle East"—but" only after resettling Palestinians elsewhere, with no plan for them ever to return.
Jordan's Abdullah was repeatedly pressed by reporters on whether he supported the plan but said only that Egypt was coming up with a response and that Arab nations would then discuss it at talks in Riyadh.
"The president is looking at Egypt coming to present that plan... (then) we will be in Saudi Arabia to discuss how we should work with the president and with the United States," Abdullah said.
"The point is, how do we make this work in a way that is good for everybody?"
King Abdullah is a key US ally but last week rejected "any attempts" to take control of the Palestinian territories and displace its people after Trump stunned the world with his proposal for Gaza.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who is expected to visit the White House later this week, urged on Tuesday the reconstruction of Gaza "without displacing Palestinians."
Analysts say the issue is an existential one for Jordan in particular.
Jordan is keenly aware of the economic pressure Trump could exercise. Every year, Jordan receives around $750 million in economic assistance from Washington and another $350 million in military aid.
With AFP
Comments