President Donald Trump has announced at the inaugural Board of Peace meeting that nine members have agreed to pledge $7 billion toward a Gaza relief package. He also says five countries have agreed to deploy troops as part of an international stabilization force for the war-battered Palestinian territory. While lauding the pledges, Trump faces the unresolved challenge of disarming Hamas, a sticking point that threatens to delay or even derail the Gaza ceasefire plan that his administration notched as a major foreign policy win. The dollars pledged on Thursday, while significant, represent a small fraction of the estimated $70 billion needed to rebuild the Palestinian territory decimated after two years of war between Israel and Hamas.
By NATALIE MELZER and IBRAHIM HAZBOUN Associated Press
President Donald Trump's call for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption trial to be thrown out has plunged the American leader into one of Israel's most heated debates, unnerving many in its political class just days after they unanimously praised his strikes on Iran. Trump's social media post condemning the trial as a witch hunt and his vow that the United States will save Netanyahu from serious corruption charges, came just two days after he called off an Israeli bombing raid in Iran. Both were dramatic interventions in the affairs of ally that previous U.S. administrations had insisted was a sovereign nation that made its own decisions.
