Washington: US President Donald Trump was caught off guard by recent Israeli airstrikes in Gaza and Syria and called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to \u201crectify\u201d both situations, the White House confirmed, according to CNN.<\/p>\n
A strike on the only Catholic Church in Gaza last Thursday drew an immediate reaction from Trump, who called Netanyahu to express his displeasure and ensure the Israeli leader issued a statement labelling the attack a mistake, CNN reported.<\/p>\n
Trump was also surprised by Israeli airstrikes in the Syrian capital Damascus, which came as his administration works to stabilise the war-torn country. \u201cThe president enjoys a good working relationship with Bibi Netanyahu, and stays in frequent communication with him. He was caught off guard by the bombing in Syria and also the bombing of a Catholic Church in Gaza,\u201d White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn both accounts, the president quickly called the prime minister to rectify those situations,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
CNN noted that despite being close allies, Trump and Netanyahu share a complicated relationship marked by periods of mutual distrust. While they cooperated closely during this summer\u2019s joint air campaign in Iran, the personal dynamic between them has remained strained.
\nLeavitt also pointed to diplomatic efforts in Syria led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has worked to ease tensions as the U.S. lifts sanctions and supports new Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former rebel leader, CNN reported.<\/p>\n
Trump had hoped Netanyahu\u2019s recent visit to Washington would yield progress toward a ceasefire in Gaza, including the release of hostages held by Hamas and expanded humanitarian aid access. Despite Trump\u2019s repeated assertions that a deal was imminent, Netanyahu departed the U.S. without any announcement, CNN reported.<\/p>\n
CNN quoted sources familiar with the negotiations as saying all parties are still awaiting a response from Hamas to the latest ceasefire and hostage release proposal. In a statement Monday, Hamas said it was \u201cexerting all our efforts and energies around the clock\u201d to reach an agreement.<\/p>\n
Leavitt said Trump remains deeply concerned about the growing toll of the Gaza conflict. \u201cThe president\u2019s message on this conflict we\u2019ve seen in the Middle East taking place for far too long, that has become quite brutal, especially in recent days, you\u2019ve seen reports of more people dying. I think the president never likes to see that. He wants the killing to end,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She further praised Trump\u2019s efforts to push humanitarian aid into Gaza. \u201cThe president is the reason that aid is even being distributed in Gaza at all,\u201d Leavitt stated, as per CNN. \u201cHe wants to see this done in a peaceful manner, where more lives are not being lost.\u201d<\/p>\n
CNN also reported that over 1,000 people have died seeking humanitarian relief in Gaza since late May, according to local health ministry figures. Foreign ministers from 25 nations recently criticized Israel for \u201cdrip feeding\u201d aid into the region.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a very difficult and complicated situation that the president inherited because of the weakness of the last administration. And I think he should be applauded,\u201d Leavitt added. \u201cThe president wants to see peace and he\u2019s been pretty clear on that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington: US President Donald Trump was caught off guard by recent Israeli airstrikes in Gaza and Syria and called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to \u201crectify\u201d both situations, the White House confirmed, according to CNN. A strike on the only Catholic Church in Gaza last Thursday drew an immediate reaction from Trump, who called Netanyahu […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13165","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-international"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13165"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13167,"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13165\/revisions\/13167"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}