Dramatic moment President Trump is interrupted during summit for urgent note on Gaza deal: 'We need you'
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has interrupted a summit held by Donald Trump at the White House to hand him an urgent note on the Gaza peace deal.
'I was just given a note by the Secretary of State saying that we're very close to a deal in the Middle East, and they're going to need me pretty quickly,' Trump told reporters gathered at the roundtable on Wednesday.
The note handed by Rubio to Trump appeared on cameras. It said: 'Very close. We need you to approve a post on Truth Social soon, so you can announce the deal first.'
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later confirmed that Trump 'is considering heading to the Middle East' on Friday.
No announcement has yet been made on his Truth Social platform.
It comes as Hamas and Israel are locked in negotiations being held in Egypt. Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner are attending the talks.
'"Peace for the Middle East," that's a beautiful phrase, and we hope it's going to come true, but it's very close, and they're doing very well,' Trump said earlier.
'We have a great team over there, great negotiators, and they're, unfortunately, great negotiators on the other side also. But it's something I think that will happen.'
Update:
President Trump announced Wednesday that Israel and Hamas have both signed off on the “first phase” of a peace plan expected to pause fighting in Gaza and lead to the release of hostages held by the terror group.
“This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“All Parties will be treated fairly!” the president added, calling it “a GREAT Day for the Arab and Muslim World, Israel, all surrounding Nations, and the United States of America.”