Trump insists Netanyahu relationship ‘very good’ despite Gaza rift

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump insisted on Aug 10 that his relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “very good” despite the Israeli leader’s rejection of a US-led Gaza plan.

“The relationship is very good,” Trump said in response to a shouted question from a journalist at the end of an Oval Office event.

After more than a week of gradually escalating criticism, Netanyahu explicitly stated on Aug 9 that he opposed the Gaza plan, which called for Israel to begin pulling back forces in tandem with disarmament by Hamas.

Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader, is running even or trailing in some polls ahead of Oct 27 elections, the country’s first since the devastating 2023 attack by Hamas that sparked the Gaza war.

Polls show that the Gaza plan is unpopular with Netanyahu’s right-wing base, and far-right members of his Cabinet had urged him to kill it.

Netanyahu until recently campaigned on the strength of his relationship with Trump, who has taken unprecedented steps to back Israel, including moving the US embassy to Jerusalem.

Trump joined Netanyahu in late February in launching a war against Iran, but the two diverged when Trump sought a ceasefire and subsequent settlement to the conflict as it sapped his popularity and sent oil prices soaring.

The Gaza plan was the latest stage in a US-brokered ceasefire announced in October that has reduced, but not ended, Israeli operations there.

Israeli operations in Gaza have killed more than 1,250 Palestinians since the ceasefire, according to the territory’s health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

The Israeli army has reported five deaths in its ranks during the same period. AFP