Trump claims war in Gaza to reach ‘conclusive ending’ in two to three weeks

US President Donald Trump claims that the Gaza war will reach a “conclusive ending” in the next two or three weeks.

“I think within the next two to three weeks, you’re going to have pretty good, conclusive — a conclusive ending,” Trump tells reporters in the Oval Office.

It is unclear what Trump is basing his prediction on, given that Israel has indicated it is not interested in the phased ceasefire proposal that Hamas agreed to last week and is instead moving ahead with plans to conquer Gaza City, which is expected to take at least several months.

Trump has repeatedly used a “two-week” timeline to predict when major developments will unfold, both at home and abroad —from the Russia-Ukraine war, to Iranian nuclear negotiations, to talks on tariffs — though it has often not held up.

He appears to hedge in his latest prediction regarding the Gaza war, adding, “It’s a hard thing to say because they’ve been fighting for thousands of years. But I think we’re doing a very good job.”

“But it does have to end, but people can’t forget October 7,” Trump says.

Following up on Trump’s prediction of an imminent end to the war, a reporter asks if the US is making a diplomatic push to advance that goal.

“There has been… a very serious diplomatic push,” the US president responds before asking US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to weigh in.

“It [has] never stopped. We’ve always looked to find a solution. We want it to end. [But] it has to end with no Hamas,” Rubio says, effectively adopting Israel’s position that has conditioned ending the war on Hamas’s complete surrender — something that the terror group is unlikely to do.

For his part, US special envoy Steve Witkoff reiterates his claim that Trump’s Truth Social post last week, declaring that the remaining hostages will only be freed after Hamas has been destroyed, is what sparked movement in long-stuck negotiations.

“We wouldn’t be anywhere but for the president’s truth last week, which was a statement to Hamas that they better get their act together and get to the peace table,” Witkoff says in the Oval Office.

Witkoff in an interview last week claimed that Trump’s post is what led Hamas to agree to the Arab mediators’ latest proposal for a phased hostage deal.

However, two Arab diplomats familiar with the negotiations told The Times of Israel that Hamas had already approved the latest ceasefire proposal by the time Trump posted on Truth Social on August 18.

Similar to Israel, the US has yet to say whether it backs the latest proposal accepted by Hamas, which the Arab diplomats said is nearly identical to the one sponsored by Witkoff several months ago after Egypt and Qatar succeeded in coaxing Hamas to walk back from demands it made in late July that led talks to stall.

The White House said last week that it was reviewing the proposal, but has yet to follow up on the matter.

Asked whether he has been in contact with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lately, against the backdrop of a UN-backed report declaring that famine has begun striking Gaza, Trump says he has a good relationship with the Israeli premier and that they worked together to strike Iran’s nuclear program.

Turning back to Gaza, Trump says, “Right now, they’re talking about Gaza City. They’re always talking about something.”

“At some point, it’s going to get settled… You better get it settled soon,” he adds, reiterating that “nobody can forget October 7.”

“With that being said, it’s got to get over with because between the hunger and all the other problems — worse than hunger, death, pure death, people being killed,” Trump says.

The president reiterates his claim that the US has donated $60 million for Gaza humanitarian aid. The US State Department confirmed two weeks ago that the figure is actually $30 million and that only half of that figure had been transferred for use by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.