Trump says he “may go” to the Middle East this weekend amid peace talks

Washington — President Trump said he “may go” to the Middle East this weekend as his top negotiators seek to broker a peace agreement between Hamas and Israel. 

Mr. Trump said Wednesday that if negotiations go well, he and his team will “be leaving probably on Sunday, maybe Saturday.” Special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are in Egypt for indirect peace talks and participated in meetings Wednesday, a White House official said.

The current negotiations center around a 20-point peace proposal that Mr. Trump unveiled at the White House during a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late last month.

“I may go there sometime toward the end of the week, maybe on Sunday, actually, and we’ll see,” the president said during a White House roundtable on antifa. “But there’s a very good chance. Negotiations are going along very well. We’re dealing with Hamas and many of the countries.”

“Our final negotiation, as you know, is with Hamas,” he added. “And it seems to be going well. So we’ll let you know. If that’s the case, we’ll be leaving probably on Sunday, maybe Saturday, maybe a little later than Saturday evening, but that seems to be our schedule.”

Egypt and Qatar are serving as intermediaries between Israel and Hamas in the indirect talks, which are taking place in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh. 

The president has urged negotiators to “move fast.” On Friday, Hamas said it had accepted some elements from the U.S.-led peace proposal. The first phase of the plan would entail Hamas releasing the remaining hostages, living and deceased, within 72 hours. Tuesday marked two years since Hamas launched its terrorist attack on Israel, in which some 1,200 people were killed and about 251 civilians, including children, were kidnapped.. 

Without drastic changes, a presidential trip abroad to deal with foreign policy this weekend would come amid the federal government shutdown. The House is out of session, and the Senate has been unable to pass legislation to reopen the government. 

Lucia I Suarez Sang and

Olivia Rinaldi

contributed to this report.