WASHINGTON, United States: US President Donald Trump on Friday said that Hamas did not want a ceasefire deal in Gaza.
The statement comes after Israel and the United States quit indirect negotiations with the Palestinian group.
“It was too bad. Hamas didn’t really want to make a deal. I think they want to die,” Trump said.
“Now we’re down to the final hostages, and they know what happens after you get the final hostages. And basically because of that, they really didn’t want to make a deal.”
He also dismissed the decision by France’s Emmanuel Macron to recognise a Palestinian state as pointless.
“He’s a very good guy, I like him, but that statement doesn’t carry weight,” Trump told reporters, reacting to the French president’s announcement a day earlier to formally recognise the State of Palestine.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff announced on Thursday that the US was pulling out of talks for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, as it believes the group isn’t negotiating seriously.
On Wednesday, Hamas submitted a response to an Israeli and US proposal to temporarily provide for a ceasefire. Hamas hasn’t yet responded to the US decision to pull out of talks.
UN chief slams ‘lack of compassion’ for Palestinians
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has criticised the global community for turning a blind eye to the suffering of Palestinians starving in the Gaza Strip, calling it a “moral crisis that challenges the global conscience.”
“I cannot explain the level of indifference and inaction we see by too many in the international community — the lack of compassion, the lack of truth, the lack of humanity,” Guterres said in a speech via videolink to Amnesty International’s global assembly.
