US president Donald Trump on Tuesday condemned moves by western powers to recognise a Palestinian state, saying such steps would reward “horrible atrocities” by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Mr Trump said world powers should focus instead on securing the release of hostages held in Gaza, nearly two years after Hamas seized them in the deadly attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war.
France, Britain, Canada, Australia and Portugal have all recognised a Palestinian state in the past two days. Their moves were borne out of frustration with Israel over its offensive in Gaza and intended to promote a two-state solution, but have angered Israel and its close ally the United States.
“As if to encourage continued conflict, some of this body is seeking to unilaterally recognise the Palestinian state. The rewards would be too great for Hamas terrorists, for their atrocities,” Mr Trump said in his speech at the UN. “This would be a reward for these horrible atrocities.”
RM Block
“Instead of giving in to Hamas’ ransom demands, those who want peace should be united with one message – release the hostages now, just release the hostages,” he said.
Calling for the release of all living hostages and the bodies of those who have died in captivity, he said: “We have to stop the war in Gaza immediately. We have to stop it, to get it done.”
The two-state solution – the existence of both Israel and a Palestinian state – was the bedrock of the US-backed peace process ushered in by the 1993 Oslo Accords, but the process has all but died.
Israel’s government has declared there will be no Palestinian state as it fights the militant group Hamas in Gaza following its October 7th, 2023, attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel has drawn global condemnation over its military conduct in Gaza, where more than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to local health authorities.
Despite this, Israel has begun a ground assault on Gaza City with few prospects for a ceasefire, and wants Hamas to hand over the last hostages it seized in the 2023 attack on Israel.
Pressing on with the offensive to eliminate Hamas in Gaza, Israel’s military pushed deeper towards the most populated areas of Gaza City on Tuesday.
Local health authorities said Israeli fire on Tuesday killed at least 22 people across the Gaza Strip, 18 of them in Gaza City, and the Gaza health ministry said hospitals in the enclave would run out of fuel in the coming few days, endangering lives.
“We are not steadfast, we are helpless. We don’t have money to leave to the south and we don’t have guarantees if we do the Israelis will not bomb us, so we are staying,” Huda, a mother of two from Gaza City, told Reuters via a chat app.
“The children tremble all the time from the sounds of explosions, we do too, they are wiping out a city that is thousands of years old and the world is celebrating a symbolic recognition of a state that won’t stop our killing.”
A United Nations commission said in a report on Tuesday that the Israeli government had shown a clear intent to establish permanent control over Gaza and to ensure a Jewish majority in the occupied West Bank.
The UN report details Israeli authorities’ extensive, systematic demolition of civilian infrastructure in Gaza’s corridors and buffer zone – resulting in Israel expanding control to 75 per cent of the Gaza Strip by July this year.
The Israeli mission in Geneva dismissed the report’s findings. – Reuters
