Washington, DC (EFE).- United States President Donald Trump said Thursday that the ceasefire deal reached between Israel and Hamas marks the eighth conflict he has resolved, adding that the war in Ukraine will be next on his list.
“We resolved seven major wars or conflicts, and this is number eight. The one I thought would be the fastest to end is Russia and Ukraine. I think that will happen soon,” Trump said at the start of a Cabinet meeting.
The president lamented that while hostilities between Kyiv and Moscow continue, about “7,000 people a week” are being killed, a toll he described as “very serious.”
“They’re losing mostly soldiers, young soldiers. They go to war, and they’re being killed. And even though it doesn’t affect us in many ways, because we have a great ocean in between, nobody wants to see that happen,” he said.
Ceasefire deal in Gaza marks Trump’s “eighth peace”
Trump’s remarks come a day after he announced that Israel and Hamas had agreed to the first phase of his Gaza peace plan, which calls for a halt to Israel’s military offensive and the release of all hostages held by the Palestinian Islamist group.
The agreement, to be formally signed in Egypt, is backed by several regional mediators, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and Indonesia.
“We’ve ended the war in Gaza and, more broadly, we’ve created peace, hopefully a lasting peace for the Middle East,” Trump said earlier this week.
The ceasefire announcement comes amid Trump’s push to secure the Nobel Peace Prize, whose winner will be announced Friday.
Trump cites “seven conflicts resolved”
The Republican leader often boasts of having ended seven major conflicts during his presidency: those between Cambodia and Thailand, Kosovo and Serbia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, Pakistan and India, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Armenia and Azerbaijan.
However, experts have questioned the accuracy of those claims, noting that Trump has not brokered any formal peace treaties and that several of those situations involved temporary truces or diplomatic pauses rather than lasting resolutions.
“Trump’s statements exaggerate his role in global diplomacy,” said a Washington-based foreign policy analyst consulted by EFE. “Many of the conflicts he cites saw only short-term de-escalations, not negotiated peace agreements.”
Ukraine remains the “next challenge”
Despite the optimism expressed by Trump, the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, the two conflicts he has publicly pledged to end, remain unresolved.
The White House has not released any timeline or details for a potential peace initiative involving Kyiv and Moscow.
Meanwhile, both sides continue to suffer heavy casualties more than three years into Russia’s full-scale invasion.
“It’s tragic and unnecessary,” Trump said. “But we’ll fix it.” EFE
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