OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — US President Donald Trump said Israel “knew how to use” American weapons during its genocide in Gaza, where more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023.
Speaking before Israel’s Knesset on Sunday, Trump revealed that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the ICC for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, frequently asked him for new kinds of weapons during the genocide.
“Bibi would call me so many times: can you get me this weapon, that weapon, and some of them I’d never heard of,” Trump said.
He added, “But we’d get them here, wouldn’t we. Israel knew how to use them well.”
Trump, a staunch supporter of Israel, praised Netanyahu and promised continued US backing. “And I love Israel, I’m with you all the way. You will be bigger, better, stronger, and more loving than ever before,” he told lawmakers.
The remarks came just days after Trump proposed a Gaza ceasefire plan that both Israel and the Palestinian resistance groups accepted following indirect talks in Egypt.
The agreement, which took effect on Friday at noon local time, includes several phases. In the first stage, Hamas agreed to release 48 soldier prisoners, both dead and alive, in return for around 2,000 Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons.
The deal also allows humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, where millions of people face hunger and disease after nearly two years of Israeli bombardment and blockade. It also requires Israeli forces to pull back to a line agreed upon with mediators. — QNN
