“Right now they’re talking about Gaza City – there’s always talking about something,” Trump said in the Oval Office during a meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.
“At some point, it’s going to get settled, and I’m saying you better get it settled soon. You have to get it settled soon,” he added.
For the first time since taking office, Trump gave a specific timeframe for when he imagined the war’s end.
“I think in the next two to three weeks, you’re gonna have a pretty conclusive ending,” he said before adding, “It’s a hard thing to say because they’ve been fighting for thousands of years.”
Trump is known for his impromptu style, and other deadlines he has given to enact tariffs have come and gone.
In general, the Trump administration has shown no urgency to end Israel’s genocide and has backed Israel’s decision to launch a new onslaught on Gaza City, experts say.
Speaking alongside Trump at the White House, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US wants the war to end, but the stipulation is the removal of Hamas.
“We want it to end. It has to end with no Hamas,” he added.
Despite a 22-month Israeli offensive following the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attack on the occupied territories, the Palestinian group continues to launch guerrilla-style attacks on Israeli soldiers. US officials announced in January that Hamas had recruited almost as many fighters as Israel has killed.
Over 62,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, according to Palestinian health officials, the majority of them women and children.
Trump’s remarks on Monday were in response to questions over Israel’s devastating double-tap raid on Nasser hospital in southern Gaza that killed at least 20 people, of whom five were journalist.
The second part of the strike was caught vividly on camera by a Jordanian news station. The footage showed the obliteration of unarmed Palestinian rescue workers in safety vests trying to retrieve wounded people from the hospital.
Trump said he didn’t know about the Israeli attack but said, “I’m not happy about it. I don’t want to see it.”
Instead of addressing the deaths of Palestinians, however, Trump returned to talking about the Israeli captives still held in Gaza.
Israel says there are 20 captives still in the enclave – all military-aged men – but Trump has repeatedly said that number is less.
Trump stated on Monday that a “very serious diplomatic push” to end the war was underway, but didn’t provide details.
“It’s got to get over with because, between the hunger and all of the other problems – worse than hunger, death, pure death – people being killed,” Trump added.
