President Donald Trump opened a meeting with his Cabinet at the White House on Thursday by speaking about the ceasefire deal and his plans to travel to the Middle East.
Trump also said he has been invited to speak before the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, during the trip. He said he would be the first U.S. president to address the Knesset, but that’s not accurate. Former president George W. Bush spoke before the parliamentary body in May 2008.
Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff as well as Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, landed in Israel Thursday night, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Trump doesn’t offer details on what conditions might lead to a two-state solution
The president was asked about an element of his peace proposal that says there may eventually be a path for Palestinian statehood if “conditions” are in place, and Trump said, “We’re going to see how it all goes.”
“There’s a point at which we may do something that would be a little bit different and may be very positive for everybody. But we’ll be looking at that at the time,” Trump said.
The president added that he was hopeful things would progress that far, adding: I think we’ll get to that period, too.”
Obama says ‘we should all be encouraged and relieved’ that end to Gaza conflict could be in sight
Former President Barack Obama, in a post he shared to X Thursday, was supportive of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal, but did not mention Trump.
“It now falls on Israelis and Palestinians, with the support of the U.S. and the entire world community, to begin the hard task of rebuilding Gaza — and to commit to a process that, by recognizing the common humanity and basic rights of both peoples, can achieve a lasting peace,” Obama wrote.
