Witkoff Plans to Visit the Mideast in Push for Gaza Ceasefire, State Department Spokesperson Says
Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters that Witkoff was going to the region with a 'strong hope' that the U.S. can deliver a ceasefire deal as well as a new humanitarian corridor for aid distribution.
'I would suggest that we might have some good news, but, again, as we know, this could be a constantly changing dynamic,' said Bruce, who didn't have other details about where Witkoff would be going or what he had planned.
Three U.S. officials said Witkoff is traveling to Europe this week to discuss a range of issues, including Gaza and the push for a ceasefire, but they had no details about Middle East stops and did not share where specifically Witkoff would travel to and when.
The officials were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The State Department press office didn't respond to messages seeking more details on Witkoff's travel, and it wasn't immediately clear what his schedule would be this week.
A breakthrough in talks on a ceasefire deal has eluded the Trump administration for months as conditions worsen in Gaza. The territory had its deadliest day yet for aid-seekers in over 21 months of war, with at least 85 Palestinians killed while trying to reach food Sunday.
The Israeli army has said it fired warning shots, but says the reported death toll was greatly inflated. The United Nations' food agency accused Israeli forces of firing on the crowd of Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid.
Bruce said the incident that took place while civilians were trying to reach aid entering through the Zikim crossing with Israel is 'absolutely horrible' and reinforced why the U.S. is pushing for a new humanitarian corridor to be created as part of any truce.
The sides have held weeks of talks in Qatar, reporting small signs of progress but no major breakthroughs. Officials have said a main sticking point is the redeployment of Israeli troops after any ceasefire takes place.
The U.S. plan calls for a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release some hostages while Israel would free Palestinian prisoners and allow a surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza. During the 60 days, the sides are also to begin negotiations on a permanent end to the war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until Hamas yields power and is disarmed, while Hamas says it will not release all of the hostages until the war is over. It is seeking assurances that Netanyahu will not resume the war after the 60 days, as he did in March after an early ceasefire expired.
Hamas is holding 50 hostages — 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yomiuri Shimbun
28 minutes ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Trump and Powell Bicker over Fed Building Renovations as President Ratchets up Pressure Campaign
WASHINGTON (AP) — After months of criticizing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, President Donald Trump took the fight to the Fed's front door on Thursday, publicly scorning the central bank chief over the ballooning costs of a long-planned building project. Powell pushed back, challenging the president's latest price tag as incorrect. Wearing hard hats and grim faces, standing in the middle of the construction project, Trump and Powell addressed the assembled TV cameras. Trump charged that the renovation would cost $3.1 billion, much higher than the Fed's $2.5 billion figure. Powell, standing next to him, shook his head. The Fed chair, after looking at a paper presented to him by Trump, said the president was including the cost of renovating a separate Fed building, known as the Martin building, that was finished five years ago. The visit represented a significant ratcheting up of the president's pressure on Powell to lower borrowing costs, which Trump says would accelerate economic growth and reduce the government's interest payments. Presidents rarely visit the Fed's offices, though they are just a few blocks from the White House, an example of the central bank's independence from day-to-day politics. 'We have to get the interest rates down,' Trump said later after a short tour, addressing the cameras this time without Powell. 'People are pretty much unable to buy houses.' Trump is likely to be disappointed next week, however, when Fed officials will meet to decide its next steps on interest rates. Powell and other officials have signaled they will likely keep their key rate unchanged at about 4.3%. However, economists and Wall Street investors expect the Fed may start cutting rates in September. The Federal Reserve sets a short-term interest rate that influences other borrowing costs, such as mortgages, auto loans and credit card rates. Yet the Fed doesn't directly control those other rates, which are ultimately set in financial markets. Last September, when the Fed cut its rate a half-point, mortgage rates actually rose in response. Trump did step back a bit from some of his recent threats to fire Powell before his term ends May 26. Asked if the rising costs of the Fed's renovation, estimated in 2022 to cost $1.9 billion, was a 'fireable offense,' Trump said, 'I don't want to put this in that category.' 'To do that is a big move, and I don't think that's necessary,' Trump added. 'I just want to see one thing happen, very simple: Interest rates come down.' And on his Truth Social site, Trump said, 'The cost overruns are substantial but, on the positive side, our Country is doing very well and can afford just about anything — Even the cost of this building!' The Fed allowed reporters to tour the building before the visit by Trump, who, in his real estate career, bragged about his own lavish spending on architectural accoutrements that gave a Versailles-like golden flair to his buildings. Journalists get rare tour of Fed renovation On Thursday, reporters wound through cement mixers, front loaders and plastic pipes as they got a close-up view of the active construction site that encompasses the Fed's historic headquarters, known as the Marriner S. Eccles building, and a second building across 20th Street in Washington. Fed staff, who declined to be identified, said that greater security requirements, rising materials costs and tariffs, and the need to comply with historic preservation measures drove up the cost of the project, which was budgeted in 2022 at $1.9 billion. Trump in 2018 imposed a 25% duty on steel and 10% on aluminum. He increased them this year to 50%. Steel prices are up about 60% since the plans were approved, while construction materials costs overall are up about 50%, according to government data. The staff pointed out new blast-resistant windows and seismic walls that were needed to comply with modern building codes and security standards set out by the Department of Homeland Security. The Fed has to build with the highest level of security in mind, Fed staff said, including something called 'progressive collapse,' in which only parts of the building would fall if hit with explosives. Sensitivity to the president's pending visit among Fed staff was high during the tour. Reporters were ushered into a small room outside the Fed's boardroom, where 19 officials meet eight times a year to decide whether to change short-term interest rates. The room, which will have a security booth, is oval-shaped, and someone had written 'oval office' on plywood walls. The Fed staff downplayed the inscription as a joke. When reporters returned to the room later, it had been painted over. During the tour, Fed staff also showed the elevator shaft that congressional critics have said is for 'VIPs' only. Powell has since said it will be open to all Fed staff. The renovation includes an 18-inch (45-cm) extension so the elevator reaches a slightly elevated area that is now accessible only by steps or a ramp. A planning document that said the elevator will only be for the Fed's seven governors was erroneous and later amended, staff said. Renovations have been in the works for a while Plans for the renovation were first approved by the Fed's governing board in 2017. The project then wended its way through several local commissions for approval, at least one of which, the Commission for Fine Arts, included several Trump appointees. The commission pushed for more marble in the second of the two buildings the Fed is renovating, known as 1951 Constitution Avenue, specifically in a mostly glass extension that some of Trump's appointees derided as a 'glass box.' Fed staff also pointed to the complication of historic renovations — both buildings have significant preservation needs. Constructing a new building on an empty site would have been cheaper, they said. As one example, the staff pointed reporters to where they had excavated beneath the Eccles building to add a floor of mechanical rooms, storage space and some offices. The Fed staff acknowledged such structural additions underground are expensive, but said it was done to avoid adding HVAC equipment and other mechanics on the roof, which is historic. Trump, who said after his tour that 'it feels very good to be back on a construction site,' added that opening up a basement is 'the most expensive place to build.' The Fed has previously attributed much of the project's cost to underground construction. It is also adding three underground levels of parking for its second building. Initially the central bank proposed building more above ground, but ran into Washington, D.C.'s height restrictions, forcing more underground construction.
The Mainichi
28 minutes ago
- The Mainichi
French President Macron says France will recognize Palestine as a state
PARIS (AP) -- French President Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday that France will recognize Palestine as a state, amid snowballing global anger over people starving in Gaza. Macron said in a post on X that he will formalize the decision at the United Nations General Assembly in September. "The urgent thing today is that the war in Gaza stops and the civilian population is saved." The French president offered support for Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks and frequently speaks out against antisemitism, but he has grown increasingly frustrated about Israel's war in Gaza, especially in recent months. "Given its historic commitment to a just and sustainable peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognize the state of Palestine,'' Macron posted. "Peace is possible.'' He also posted a letter he sent to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas about the decision. France is the biggest and most powerful European country to recognize Palestine. More than 140 countries recognize a Palestinian state, including more than a dozen in Europe. France has Europe's largest Jewish population and the largest Muslim population in western Europe, and fighting in the Middle East often spills over into protests or other tensions in France. The Israeli Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment. France's foreign minister is co-hosting a conference at the U.N. next week about a two-state solution. Last month, Macron expressed his "determination to recognize the state of Palestine," and he has pushed for a broader movement toward a two-state solution, in parallel with recognition of Israel and its right to defend itself. Thursday's announcement came soon after the U.S. cut short Gaza ceasefire talks in Qatar, saying Hamas wasn't showing good faith. Momentum has been building against Israel in recent days. Earlier this week, France and more than two dozen mostly European countries condemned Israel's restrictions on aid shipments into the territory and the killings of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach food. The Palestinians seek an independent state in the occupied West Bank, annexed east Jerusalem and Gaza, territories Israel occupied in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel's government and most of its political class have long been opposed to Palestinian statehood and now say that it would reward militants after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack. Israel annexed east Jerusalem shortly after the 1967 war and considers it part of its capital. In the West Bank, it has built scores of settlements, some resembling sprawling suburbs, that are now home to over 500,000 Jewish settlers with Israeli citizenship. The territory's 3 million Palestinians live under Israeli military rule, with the Palestinian Authority exercising limited autonomy in population centers.
Yomiuri Shimbun
an hour ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
French President Macron Says France Will Recognize Palestine as a State
PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday that France will recognize Palestine as a state, in a bold diplomatic move amid snowballing global anger over people starving in Gaza. Israel denounced the decision. Macron said in a post on X that he will formalize the decision at the U.N. General Assembly in September. 'The urgent thing today is that the war in Gaza stops and the civilian population is saved,' he wrote. The mostly symbolic move puts added diplomatic pressure on Israel as the war and humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip rage. France is now the biggest Western power to recognize Palestine, and the move could pave the way for other countries to do the same. More than 140 countries recognize a Palestinian state, including more than a dozen in Europe. The Palestinians seek an independent state in the occupied West Bank, annexed east Jerusalem and Gaza, territories Israel occupied in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel's government and most of its political class have long been opposed to Palestinian statehood and now say that it would reward militants after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack. ''We strongly condemn President Macron's decision,' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. ''Such a move rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became. A Palestinian state in these conditions would be a launch pad to annihilate Israel — not to live in peace beside it.' The Palestinian Authority welcomed it. A letter announcing the move was presented Thursday to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Jerusalem. ''We express our thanks and appreciation' to Macron, Hussein Al Sheikh, the PLO's vice president under Abbas, posted. ''This position reflects France's commitment to international law and its support for the Palestinian people's rights to self-determination.' There was no immediate reaction from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. With Europe's largest Jewish population and the largest Muslim population in western Europe, France has often seen fighting in the Middle East spill over into protests or other tensions at home. The French president offered support for Israel after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and frequently speaks out against antisemitism, but he has grown increasingly frustrated about Israel's war in Gaza. ″Given its historic commitment to a just and sustainable peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognize the state of Palestine,' Macron posted. ″Peace is possible.' Thursday's announcement came soon after the U.S. cut short Gaza ceasefire talks in Qatar, saying Hamas wasn't showing good faith. It also came days before France and Saudi Arabia are co-hosting a conference at the U.N. next week about a two-state solution. Last month, Macron expressed his 'determination to recognize the state of Palestine,' and he has pushed for a broader movement toward a two-state solution in parallel with recognition of Israel and its right to defend itself. Momentum has been building against Israel in recent days. Earlier this week, France and more than two dozen mostly European countries condemned Israel's restrictions on aid shipments into the territory and the killings of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach food. Macron will join the leaders of Britain and Germany for emergency talks Friday on Gaza, how to get food to the hungry and how to stop fighting. 'We are clear that statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people. A ceasefire will put us on a path to the recognition of a Palestinian state and a two-state solution which guarantees peace and security for Palestinians and Israelis,' British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in announcing the call. 'The suffering and starvation unfolding in Gaza is unspeakable and indefensible.' Israel annexed east Jerusalem shortly after the 1967 war and considers it part of its capital. In the West Bank, it has built scores of settlements, some resembling sprawling suburbs, that are now home to over 500,000 Jewish settlers with Israeli citizenship. The territory's 3 million Palestinians live under Israeli military rule, with the Palestinian Authority exercising limited autonomy in population centers. The last serious peace talks broke down in 2009, when Netanyahu returned to power. Most of the international community considers the establishment of a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel to be the only realistic solution to the century-old conflict.
