Gaza: Talks Between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu

Former American President and Republican Party candidate in the United States presidential election Donald Trump held a phone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “talk about the release of hostages and the Gaza truce.”

According to the US news site Axios, which cited “some well-informed sources,” the purpose of the call was for Trump to urge Netanyahu to accept an agreement mediated by the United States with Hamas.

The phone conversation between Trump and Netanyahu preceded a new attempt to find a compromise on the situation in Gaza, where nearly 40,000 people have been killed since the start of the war, according to the latest figures cited by Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

After Netanyahu said he would not give up Tel Aviv’s demand for the immediate release of 33 Israeli hostages, Hamas said it would not send a delegation to attend a new round of Gaza cease-fire talks in Doha, Qatar, on Thursday, August 15. Therefore, the possibility of a near-term agreement that would avoid “the Iranian military response against Israel” was canceled from the very beginning. In addition to Israel, the meeting was attended by representatives from Qatar, the USA, and Egypt.

But Hamas made it clear that it may participate in consultations after August 15, suggesting Israel “not to impose new conditions.”

As the Israeli press recalls, mediators have been trying for months to reach a truce agreement after ten months of war between Israel and Hamas. The central theme of each talk is the release of hostages kidnapped by Hamas during the October 7, 2023 attack on the Jewish state.

This new round of talks took place in a very tense international environment, while fighting in Gaza and missile duels between the Israeli army and Lebanon’s Hezbollah threaten to inflame the entire region after the assassination of Hamas leader in Tehran and a senior Hezbollah official near Beirut. US President Joe Biden said Tuesday, August 12, that “a ceasefire in Gaza could prevent Iran from striking back at Israel.”

Immediately after the Doha meeting, President Biden and his vice Kamala Harris were briefed on developments in the Middle East by the US National Security Council. According to the US-based New York Times, Israel “has achieved what it could militarily in Gaza, and the continued bombing of the Palestinian enclave only increases the risks to civilians.” White House administration officials quoted by the New York Times believe that in many respects Israel’s military operation “has done more damage to Hamas than could have been foreseen at the start of the war.”