Donald Trump privately told Binyamin Netanyahu he was ‘f***ing negative’ in his approach to Gaza peace talks.
The president spoke by phone to the Israeli leader on Friday, who said he interpreted Hamas’s ambiguous response as a rejection of Trump’s 20-point peace proposal.
While Trump reportedly urged Netanyahu to take the latest developments as a ‘win’, the Israeli PM was less optimistic, saying they were ‘nothing to celebrate’.
Officials reported that the US president then retorted: ‘I don’t know why you’re always so f***ing negative’.
It comes as Hamas officials in Qatar promised to free the hostages provided certain conditions were met, with no commitment given by the group it would disarm.
The Independent reported that a remaining sticking point could be a rift between Hamas’s political and military arms.
In an interview with Axios yesterday, Trump he had told Netanyahu this was his ‘chance for victory’, before issuing a statement calling on Israel to stop striking Gaza.
Officials recalled a ‘tough and firm’ discussion between the two leaders on Friday, albeit one that ended in agreement.
The US president has since applied pressure on both sides to agree to the plan, simultaneously warning Hamas it would face ‘complete obliteration’ if it failed to release the 48 remaining hostages.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the deal was the closest both sides had come to getting the hostages released, but added that ‘a lot of pitfalls’ remain.
Under the terms of the plan, Israel would immediately all attacks on Gaza and Hamas would return all hostages, as well as the bodies of those who have died, within a 72-hour period.
Hamas’s military wing would be required to disarm as part of the process.
Rubio added that he hoped that ’90 per cent’ of details would have been agreed on by the time he and his team arrive in Cairo for peace talks.
But he admitted that it is impossible to ‘ignore the impact’ the war has had on Israel’s standing internationally.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.