Trump says Netanyahu is continuing the war for political reasons

The sources said Trump believed Netanyahu had achieved the stated goals of the war a long time ago.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Two White House officials told The Atlantic that U.S. President Donald Trump thinks Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is continuing the war for political reasons.

The sources said Trump believed Netanyahu had achieved the stated goals of the war a long time ago.

Nevertheless, according to one official, there is no rift between the two leaders.

“There is no significant rupture” between Trump and Netanyahu,” he said. “Allies can sometimes disagree, even in a very real way.”

Another source told The Atlantic, “The White House also believes that Netanyahu is taking steps that interfere with a potential cease-fire deal.”

However, the president has not openly blamed Israel for the impasse; rather, he is expressing frustration at Hamas for the lack of an agreement.

Earlier in the week, while meeting with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump was “not particularly convinced” by Netanyahu’s claim that there is no starvation in Gaza.

“Based on television, I would say not particularly, because those children look very hungry,” Trump said while accompanying Starmer and his wife, Victoria, at a golf resort in Scotland.

However, speaking to Christian leaders at a Daystar Women of Destiny Conference in Jerusalem on Sunday, Netanyahu said, “There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza.”

“Israel,” he continued, had “enabled humanitarian aid throughout the duration of the war to enter Gaza. Otherwise, there would be no Gazans.”

Following accusations of intentionally trying to starve Gazan civilians, Israel airlifted aid into Gaza to supplement Gaza Humanitarian Foundation trucks that have been delivering supplies to the Gaza Strip for 10 months.

In addition, The New York Times admitted that its reporting on an emaciated toddler in Gaza was erroneous. The child was born with a genetic illness, and his condition was not related to the war.