Donald Trump is losing his patience with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the glacially slow-moving Gaza peace talks.
“I don’t know why you’re always so f–king negative. This is a win. Take it,” the president said after Netanyahu told him a nascent deal with Hamas “is nothing to celebrate,” Axios reports. The outlet cited sources familiar with a Friday call between the two leaders.
U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who holds no official title, departed for Cairo on Saturday to negotiate with Hamas and Israel. The Trump administration has rolled out a 20-point peace plan aimed at securing a ceasefire and facilitating a large-scale exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas has conditionally accepted key aspects of the MAGA administration’s proposals, notably committing to the release of all remaining hostages, living and dead, taken during the October 7th terrorist attacks, according to Reuters. They also said they are receptive to handing over administrative power in the occupied Palestinian territory to a temporary government. The particulars of such an agreement would be dependent on negotiations.
The group has proven less receptive to demands of full disarmament. Israel views this as a non-negotiable condition of its withdrawal from Gaza, and it is also outlined in terms put forward by the Trump administration.
During Friday’s discussion with Trump, Netanyahu reportedly told the president that Hamas only conditionally accepting the terms “doesn’t mean anything,” and in fact represents an outright rejection of White House proposals.
Two U.S. officials with knowledge of the exchange told Axios that Trump had been expecting a more enthusiastic response from the Israeli prime minister, accounting for his hostile retort. Trump further discussed the call with the outlet Saturday, explaining he’d persuaded Netanyahu to come round by insisting it represented his “chance for victory.”
“He was fine with it. He’s got to be fine with it. He has no choice,” the president said of his recent dealings with the Israeli leader. “With me, you got to be fine.”
It was in the aftermath of the call that Trump issued a public statement via Truth Social calling on Israel to “immediately stop” its bombardment of the Gaza Strip. IDF attacks have claimed more than 66,000 lives over the past two years, with some estimates reporting that 83% of those killings were civilians.
Israel continued its airstrikes into Saturday, with overnight bombings killing a further 20 people. While operations are reported to have been reduced against Gaza City, attacks remained ongoing as of Sunday morning.
On Truth Social on Friday, Trump threatened that “all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas,” if an agreement was not met by a “Sunday Evening at SIX (6) P.M., Washington, D.C. time” deadline.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment on this story.
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