World News
NEW YORK: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif joined the Arab-Islamic Summit hosted by US President Donald Trump and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session held here to deliberate ways to end the war in Gaza.
In his opening remarks US President Trump spoke of the nearly 240 Israeli hostages taken by Hamas in its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people. Hamas said it carried out the assault in retaliation for worsening conditions under Israeli occupation.
Israel responded with a military campaign in Gaza that has killed more than 65,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and leveled schools, hospitals and residential neighborhoods. While Hamas has freed many of the hostages in phases, Trump told the Muslim leaders that among those still held, 38 were dead and 20 alive.
“We have to get the 38 back, and we have to get the 20 back, and I think we’ll be able to do it,” President Trump revealed.
“This is the group that can do it, more than any other group in the world … So it’s an honor to be with you”, Trump added.
Qatar’s emir said the world was counting on the US president “to end this war and to help the people of Gaza.”
“The situation is very, very bad there,” he added. “So we are here to meet, to do everything we can to stop this war and to bring the hostages back.”
Media reports suggest Trump’s Gaza peace plan envisions a phased Israeli withdrawal, deployment of regional peacekeepers, dismantling of Hamas and a political role for the Palestinian Authority.
Premier Shehbaz Sharif also met Qatar’s emir, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto ahead of the summit, his office said.
He held informal talks with Trump afterward and praised him for working to end global conflicts, including the four-day war between Pakistan and India in May.
