United States President Donald Trump has told the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that the war in Gaza must stop immediately, while calling the recent recognition of Palestinian statehood by several Western countries a “reward” for Hamas, Al Jazeera reports.
“We have to stop the war in Gaza immediately,” Trump told world leaders in New York on Tuesday, adding that he has been “deeply engaged” in trying to secure a ceasefire.
He reiterated his call for the captives taken from Israel and being held in Gaza to be returned home.
“We have to get it done. We have to negotiate peace. We have to get the hostages back. We want all 20 back,” he said, referring to the 20 of the 48 remaining captives still believed to be alive.
Those who support peace should be united in demanding the release of the captives, he told the UNGA, while rejecting recent Western countries’ recognition of Palestinian statehood.
“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,” Trump said.
His words were in contrast to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s, who said at a meeting on the two-state solution on Sunday that statehood for Palestinians “is a right, not a reward”.
Sultan Barakat, a professor at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar, said that while Trump called for the war to stop at once, he fell short of mentioning how.
“He knows that the main reason for [the war] sustaining itself at the moment is the fact that he is supporting it,” Barakat told Al Jazeera, referring to Trump’s support for Israel.
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