President Donald Trump said Thursday that the best and fastest way to solve the humanitarian problems facing Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is for Hamas to surrender and to release its remaining Israeli hostages.
He posted on Truth Social: “The fastest way to end the Humanitarian Crises in Gaza is for Hamas to SURRENDER AND RELEASE THE HOSTAGES!!!”
Trump posted his statement as his administration slapped sanctions on the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization for seeking statehood outside the process of negotiations with Israel.
He also threatened trade consequences for Canada after Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday that Canada would join France and the United Kingdom in recognizing a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September.
(The sanctions will prevent Palestinian leaders from entering the U.S. to attend the United Nations meeting.)
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed at a press briefing Thursday that the U.S. opposed what France, Canada, and the UK were doing, especially given that Hamas was still holding Israeli hostages.
The president felt that recognizing a Palestinian state now would mean “rewarding Hamas at a time where Hamas is the true impediment to a ceasefire and to the release of all of the hostages,” Leavitt told journalists.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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