00:00Coming out of the U.S. Today, President Trump will hold a large meeting on Gaza at the White House.
00:07So, Gemma, this is actually, you know, I think maybe going ahead now as we speak,
00:14but this has been in the planning.
00:16I felt like we didn't really know about it, but Whitcoff was speaking on Fox & Friends yesterday
00:22and giving an interview, and also Donald Trump had some comments in the Oval Office yesterday too.
00:28And according to Whitcoff, they expect to settle this war between Israel and Hamas soon.
00:36Donald Trump said a very similar thing. Soon? Is that a bit much to hope for?
00:42It's not really a fixed term, is it, soon?
00:47There is a sense that momentum is gathering.
00:50So, on Monday, Trump said that Gaza will reach a conclusive ending in the next two or three weeks.
00:55That's his favourite two weeks. He cites that time period quite a lot.
01:00On Tuesday, Whitcoff said Washington expected it to be settled by the end of the year.
01:05And this was echoed again by Rubio.
01:09Now, I don't think it's realistic that things are going to be ended by the end of the year.
01:15And I guess that would depend on your definition of what ending the war actually means.
01:21If it means Israel out of Palestine, that is completely unrealistic.
01:25They are still talking about the evacuation or, as they say in the Times of Israel, the conquering of Gaza City.
01:34That doesn't appear to have been taken off the table.
01:38Hamas is not looking like they're going to, you know, disappear off the planet,
01:44which, again, Israel has always said eradicating Hamas is part of ending the war.
01:50The hostages are no closer to being released.
01:53So, this talk of ending the war, I think it's kind of the wrong language.
01:59I think they should be using words like looking for the next solution or the next step,
02:02because I do believe this kind of language is giving false hope.
02:05And I think a lot of what you've said is also really true.
02:08Eradicating Hamas is almost impossible at this stage, because it's ideological.
02:13It's, you can't eradicate an ideology or a thought or a movement.
02:18You just have to look at the Taliban to see that.
02:20You simply cannot.
02:22So, yeah, the word eradicate means, obviously, to wipe off the faces.
02:26You have to wipe clean of all memory.
02:28It's simply not possible.
02:29So, if you have this impossible goal, how can you ever say if you've achieved it or not?
