President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he may travel to Egypt this weekend as his negotiators seek to seal a Gaza hostages-for-ceasefire deal.
Trump may depart Saturday for the region © Mena Today
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he may travel to Egypt this weekend as his negotiators seek to seal a Gaza hostages-for-ceasefire deal.
Trump said at the White House that a deal is "very close," and that he may depart Saturday for the region. He spoke after talking to his team about the talks. Negotiators have been meeting in Egypt to try to complete an agreement.
As Trump held an event, Secretary of State Marco Rubio entered the room and handed Trump a note. Trump read it and then described what the note said.
"I was just given a note by the secretary of state saying that we're very close to a deal in the Middle East, and they're going to need me pretty quickly," Trump said.
He said he would probably go either before the hostages are released or shortly thereafter.
Trump ended his participation in the White House event by saying: “I have to go now to try and solve some problems in the Middle East.”
Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and Steve Holland
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to attend a ministerial meeting to be held on Thursday in Paris with European, Arab and other states to discuss Gaza's post-war transition, three diplomatic sources said on Wednesday.
Hamas said on Wednesday it had exchanged a list of the names of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners to be released under a swap deal and that it was optimistic about talks in Egypt on U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to end the war in Gaza.
High-ranking officials from the U.S., Qatar, and Turkey are expected to join indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel on Wednesday in Egypt, as international pressure mounts to reach a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
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