US President Donald Trump on Thursday defended his administration’s unprecedented direct negotiations with Hamas, saying they were being conducted for the benefit of Israel and in order to secure the release of Israeli hostages.
“We are helping Israel in those discussions because we’re talking about Israeli hostages,” Trump told reporters while signing executive orders in the Oval Office.
“We’re not doing anything in terms of Hamas. We’re not giving cash,” he continued. “You have to negotiate. There’s a difference between negotiating and paying. We want to get these people out.”
Jerusalem is not happy about the direct US-Hamas talks, however, a government official told The Times of Israel on condition of anonymity. Accordingly, Israel was behind Wednesday’s media leak about the negotiations’ existence, the official said, confirming reporting in the Ynet news site.
While the White House claimed it consulted with Israel on the matter, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu only found out about the US talks with Hamas after the fact, the official said.
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