US President Donald Trump said Monday he was \u201cnot confident\u201d the Gaza ceasefire would last, despite claiming credit for brokering the agreement between Israel and Hamas. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not confident. It\u2019s not our war, it\u2019s their war,\u201d he said from the Oval Office, when asked by a reporter whether the ceasefire would hold and last through three planned phases. \u201cI looked at a picture of Gaza \u2013 Gaza is like a massive demolition site. That place is, it\u2019s really, it\u2019s got to be rebuilt in a different way.\u201d <\/p>\n
The American president\u2019s pessimism is not unique. There is significant pressure to restart the Gaza war from extremist right-wing Israeli politicians, who believe the ceasefire was a capitulation to Hamas. <\/p>\n
Itamar Ben-Gvir of Israel\u2019s Jewish Power party this week resigned as national security minister, further narrowing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s slim parliamentary majority. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has threatened to do the same if Netanyahu does not break the ceasefire once an initial 42-day phase is complete. <\/p>\n
\u201cI demanded \u2013 and received \u2013 a commitment from Prime Minister Netanyahu that Israel will return to the battlefield to eliminate Hamas and eradicate this threat once and for all,\u201d Smotrich said in a statement on Monday. <\/p>\n
Netanyahu, for his part, said on Sunday night that \u201cboth President Trump and President Biden gave full backing to Israel\u2019s right to return to fighting, if Israel comes to the conclusion that negotiations on Phase B are futile. I really appreciate it.\u201d <\/p>\n
Israeli media has been rife with speculation this week that those commitments to potentially restart the war will doom negotiations on phase two of the deal, which are due to begin on February 4. Phase two, if it goes into effect, would see the complete withdrawal of the Israeli military from Gaza. <\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s pessimism about the ceasefire stood in contrast to the pledge made just hours earlier, during his inaugural address, that he would \u201cmeasure our success not only by the battles we win but also by the wars that we end.\u201d <\/p>\n
Among the slew of executive orders he signed upon taking office was a decision to rescind sanctions that the Biden administration had against Israeli settlers allegedly responsible for deadly violence in the occupied West Bank. <\/p>\n
Smotrich was quick to thank Trump on taking office, and said he looked forward to \u201ccontinued fruitful cooperation to bolster our national security, expand settlement throughout all parts of the Land of Israel, and strengthen Israel\u2019s standing in the world.\u201d <\/p>\n
The finance minister is among those who has argued strenuously for Israel to re-establish Jewish settlements in Gaza, which were abandoned under an Israeli order in 2005. Smotrich was briefly arrested \u2013 though never charged \u2013 in connection with protests he staged in opposition to that withdrawal at the time. <\/p>\n
It is unclear what Trump makes of that effort. But when asked on Monday who should govern Gaza, Trump said \u201cyou certainly can\u2019t have the people that were there,\u201d apparently referring to Hamas. \u201cMost of them are dead, by the way, right? Most of them are dead. But they didn\u2019t exactly run it well. It was run viciously and badly. So you can\u2019t have that.\u201d <\/p>\n
The American president, in response to a question, also said that he \u201cmight\u201d be able to have a role in rebuilding the enclave, praising it as having a \u201cphenomenal location, on the sea\u201d and \u201cthe best weather.\u201d <\/p>\n
The comments echo remarks made by his son-in-law Jared Kushner in February 2024 when Kushner called the waterfront property in Gaza \u201cvery valuable\u201d and suggested Israel should move Palestinians out of Gaza and \u201cclean it up.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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