President Donald Trump said a deal to end the Israel-Hamas War is “very close,” and he could travel to the Middle East as soon as this weekend.
Trump updated the nation on the latest developments at the top of a roundtable event on Antifa in the East Room, featuring independent journalists like Nick Sortor and Jack Posobiec. Later, as the roundtable was underway, Secretary of State Marco Rubio handed Trump a note detailing the brink of a deal.
According to a photograph of the note shared to X by Associated Press Chief Washington Photographer Evan Vucci, the note reads, “Very close. We need you to approve a Truth Social post soon so you can announce deal first.”
Trump spoke about the potential for the deal at the top of the meeting before Rubio handed him the note.
“I was just dealing with people from the Middle East, Arab people, and other people on the potential peace deal for the Middle East,” Trump said. “Peace for the Middle East–that’s a beautiful phrase, and we hope it’s going to come true, but it’s very close.”
“We have a great team over there, great negotiators, and there are, unfortunately, great negotiators on the other side also, but it’s something I think that will happen, got a good chance of happening,” he said.
Trump added that he could be en route to the Middle East on Saturday or Sunday, though a trip is not yet concrete. Israel has notably agreed to Trump’s proposed withdrawal line, and once Hamas agrees, a ceasefire will immediately be in effect:
We’re dealing with Hamas and many of the countries, as you know… all of the Muslim countries are included. All of the Arab countries are included, very rich countries, and some that are not so rich, but just about everybody’s included. It’s never happened before. Nothing like that’s happened before, and our final negotiation, as you know, is with Hamas, and it seems to be going well, so we’ll let you know. If that’s the case, we’ll be leaving, probably on Sunday, maybe Saturday, maybe a little a little later than Saturday evening, but that seems to be our schedule.
Trump forced Hamas to the table last week with a proposed peace plan and a deadline to reach an agreement last weekend. He expressed gratitude to a number of Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Jordan, and Egypt, on Friday for their help in fostering the potential for negotiations, and emphasized “every country” supports the deal during a bilateral meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday.
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