Iran involved in Gaza hostage negotiations: Trump
US President Donald Trump said on Monday Iran is involved in negotiations aimed at arranging a ceasefire-for-hostages deal between Israel and Hamas.
'Gaza right now is in the midst of a massive negotiation between us and Hamas and Israel, and Iran actually is involved, and we'll see what's going to happen with Gaza. We want to get the hostages back,' Trump told reporters during an event in the White House State Dining Room.
Trump did not elaborate and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for details of Iran's involvement. Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The United States has proposed a 60-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Israel said it would abide by the terms but Hamas thus far has rejected the plan.
Under the proposal 28 Israeli hostages - alive and dead - would be released in the first week, in exchange for the release of 1,236 Palestinian prisoners and the remains of 180 dead Palestinians.
The United States and Iran are also separately trying to negotiate a deal on Tehran's nuclear program.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
34 minutes ago
- Arab News
Hamas says it killed 12 Israeli-backed fighters. Israeli-supported group says they were aid workers
CAIRO: A unit of Gaza's Hamas-run police force said it killed 12 members of an Israeli-backed militia after detaining them early Thursday. Hours earlier, an Israel-supported aid group said Hamas attacked a bus carrying its Palestinian workers, killing at least five of militia, led by Yasser Abu Shabab, said its fighters had attacked Hamas and killed five militants but made no mention of its own casualties. It also accused Hamas of detaining and killing aid workers. It was not immediately possible to verify the competing claims or confirm the identities of those Israeli military circulated the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's statement on its social media accounts but declined to provide its own account of what initiative already marred by controversy and violenceThe aid group's operations in Gaza have already been marred by controversy and violence since they began last month, with scores of people killed in near-daily shootings as crowds headed toward the food distribution sites inside Israeli military zones. Witnesses have blamed the Israeli military, which has acknowledged firing only warning shots near people it said approached its forces in a suspicious this week, witnesses also said Abu Shabab militiamen had opened fire on people en route to a GHF aid hub, killing and wounding United Nations and major aid groups have rejected the Israeli and US-backed initiative, accusing them of militarizing humanitarian aid at a time when experts say Gaza is at risk of famine because of Israel's blockade and renewed military week, Israel acknowledged it is supporting armed groups of Palestinians in what it says is a move to counter Hamas. Abu Shabab's militia, which calls itself the Popular Forces, says it is guarding the food distribution points set up by the Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in southern Gaza. Aid workers say it has a long history of looting UN has denied working with the Abu Shabab group.'They were aid workers'In a statement released early Thursday, the foundation said Hamas had attacked a bus carrying more than two dozen 'local Palestinians working side-by-side with the US GHF team to deliver critical aid' near the southern city of Khan Younis.'We condemn this heinous and deliberate attack in the strongest possible terms,' it said. 'These were aid workers. Humanitarians. Fathers, brothers, sons, and friends, who were risking their lives everyday to help others.'It did not identify the men or say whether they were armed at the Johnnie Moore, a Christian evangelical adviser to US President Donald Trump who was recently appointed head of GHF, called the killings 'absolute evil' and lashed out at the UN and Western countries over what he said was their failure to condemn them.'The principle of impartiality does not mean neutrality. There is good and evil in this world. What we are doing is good and what Hamas did to these Gazans is absolute evil,' he wrote on and the United States say the new system is needed to prevent Hamas from siphoning off aid from the long-standing UN-run system, which is capable of delivering food, fuel and other humanitarian aid to all parts of Gaza. UN officials deny there has been any systematic diversion of aid by Hamas, but say they have struggled to deliver it because of Israeli restrictions and the breakdown of law and order in officials say the new system is unable to meet mounting needs, and that it allows Israel to use aid as a weapon by controlling who has access to it and by essentially forcing people to relocate to the aid sites, most of which are in the southernmost city of Rafah, now a mostly uninhabited military zone. Some fear this could be part of an Israeli plan to coerce Palestinians into leaving says it killed traitorsHamas has also rejected the new system and threatened to kill any Palestinians who cooperate with the Israeli military. The killings early Wednesday were carried out by the Hamas-run police's Sahm unit, which Hamas says it established to combat unit released video footage showing several dead men lying in the street, saying they were Abu Shabab fighters who had been detained and killed for collaborating with Israel. It was not possible to verify the images or the claims around Abu Amin, a Khan Younis resident, said he was at the scene of the killings and that crowds were celebrating them, shouting 'God is greatest' and condemning those killed as traitors to the Palestinian cause and agents of Duhine, who identifies himself as a major in the Palestinian Authority's security forces and deputy commander of the Abu Shabab group, posted a statement online saying they clashed with Sahm and killed five. He denied that the images shared by Sahm were of Abu Shabab Palestinian Authority, led by rivals of Hamas and based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has denied any connection to the Abu Shabab group, but many of the militiamen identify themselves as PA lawlessness as Israel steps up military campaignIsrael renewed its offensive in March after ending a ceasefire with Hamas and imposed a complete ban on imports of food, fuel, medicine and other aid before easing the blockade in ongoing war and mounting desperation have plunged Gaza into chaos, with armed gangs looting aid convoys and selling the stolen food. The Hamas-run police force, which maintained a high degree of public security before the war, has largely gone underground as Israel has repeatedly targeted its forces with airstrikes. The military now controls more than half of the war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostage. They are still holding 53 captives, less than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other military campaign has killed over 55,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which has said women and children make up more than half of the dead. It does not say how many of those killed were civilians or offensive has flattened large areas of Gaza and driven around 90 percent of the population of roughly 2 million Palestinians from their homes. The territory is almost completely reliant on humanitarian aid because nearly all of its food production capabilities have been destroyed.
Asharq Al-Awsat
34 minutes ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Israel Kills Syrian in Damascus Countryside, Detains Several
Israeli forces conducted an operation in southern Syria to detain several members of Hamas, the military said Thursday. Syria TV, a local station, reported that a force of about 100 Israeli troops stormed the southern Syrian village of Beit Jin near the border with Lebanon and called the names of several people through loud speakers who were detained. Syria TV said one person was shot dead by the Israeli force. The Israeli military said that the detained people were Hamas members who were planning attacks against Israel, and that they were taken to Israel for questioning, adding that its forces also found weapons in the area. The detained people were not identified. Since the fall of President Bashar Assad 's government in early December, Israeli forces have moved into several areas in southern Syria and conducted hundreds of airstrikes throughout the country, destroying much of the assets of the Syrian army. There was no immediate comment from Hamas or Syrian authorities. During a visit to France last month, Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa said that his country is holding indirect talks with Israel to prevent hostilities from getting out of control.
Asharq Al-Awsat
an hour ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
One Syrian Killed by Israeli Forces in Damascus Countryside
Syria's Al Ekhbaria TV said on Thursday that one Syrian was killed by Israeli forces and seven were arrested when the Israeli military infiltrated at dawn into into Beit Jinn in the Western countryside of Damascus. The Israeli military said it arrested members of the Palestinian group Hamas in countryside outside Syria's capital Damascus.
