President Trump denied on Monday that there was a rift between his White House and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over an Israeli airstrike that killed a Hamas commander in Gaza on Saturday, a clear violation of the US-backed ceasefire deal.
“No, Israel and I have gotten along very well. My relationship with Bibi Netanyahu has been obviously a very good one,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about reports that he “rebuked” Netanyahu over the attack.
According to Axios reporter Barak Ravid, a former IDF intelligence officer, the White House “scolded” Netanyahu over the strike and viewed it as a clear violation of the truce.
“The White House message to Netanyahu was: ‘If you want to ruin your reputation and show that you don’t abide by agreements be our guest, but we won’t allow you to ruin President Trump’s reputation after he brokered the deal in Gaza,” a US official told Ravid.
But President Trump offered no criticism of the Israeli attack. When asked whether it violated the ceasefire, he said, “We are looking into that.”
The Trump administration has remained silent as Israel has continued its attacks on Palestinians in Gaza, killing nearly 400 since the truce went into effect on October 10. Both the US and Israel are preventing reconstruction from taking place in the Hamas-controlled side of Gaza, where civilians in tent camps are dying due to harsh storms and continued Israeli restrictions.
Netanyahu is set to meet with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on December 29, marking the Israeli leader’s fifth visit to the US this year. The two leaders are expected to discuss the implementation of Trump’s plan for Gaza, though there’s been little progress on advancing it since countries are hesitant to be involved in the international force that is meant to be deployed to the Strip over concerns their troops could end up fighting Hamas on behalf of Israel.
