WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump, “displeased” with the attack on Al Nasser Hospital, signaled the Gaza conflict will end within two to three weeks.
“I think within the next two to three weeks, you’re going to have [a] pretty good, conclusive ending,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “It’s got to get over with because between the hunger and all of the other problems – worse than hunger, death, pure death — people [are] being killed. I’m not happy about it. I don’t want to see it. At the same time, we have to end that nightmare.”
Trump said there was a “very serious” diplomatic effort under way, with the US and Israel pressing Hamas to release hostages. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio added: “It has never stopped. We have always sought a solution, and ultimately, as the president said, we want it to end. It has to end without Hamas.”
Israeli protests for hostage deal
Protesters in Tel Aviv and other cities demanded an end to the Gaza war and the release of hostages ahead of a key security cabinet meeting. Demonstrators accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of prioritising Hamas’s defeat over hostage safety. The meeting is expected to discuss ceasefire and hostage release talks, after Hamas accepted a mediator-backed proposal for staggered releases. Qatar said Israel has yet to respond to the plan.
Global outrage over Nasser Hospital strike
Israeli attacks killed at least 61 people across Gaza on this Monday, according to medical sources. A strike on the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis killed 21 people, including five journalists, in a “double-tap” attack that hit the hospital’s fourth floor.
China condemned the strike, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun saying: “We are shocked and condemn the fact that medical personnel and journalists have once again lost their lives in the conflict. Israel should immediately stop its military operations in Gaza and allow humanitarian supplies.”
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong called the attack “horrific” and urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “heed the call of the world and agree to a ceasefire.”
Switzerland’s Foreign Ministry posted on X that it “strongly condemns the Israeli attack on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, which caused numerous civilian casualties,” stressing that civilian infrastructure must be protected under international humanitarian law.
Canada’s Foreign Ministry also issued a statement, saying it was “horrified” by the strike and calling the deaths of journalists, health officials, and rescuers “unacceptable.”
Canadian photojournalist Valerie Zink has announced she is severing ties with the Reuters news agency after eight years as a stringer, saying she can no longer continue in her role given the agency’s “role in justifying and enabling the systematic assassination of 245 journalists in Gaza”.
In a post on X, Zink criticised Reuters’ coverage of the killing of Palestinian journalist Anas al-Sharif, a member of a Pulitzer Prize–winning Reuters team in 2024. She said the outlet repeated “baseless” Israeli claims about him, putting his life and those of other journalists at risk.
“Reuters’ willingness to perpetuate Israel’s propaganda has not spared their own reporters from Israel’s genocide,” she added, noting that a Reuters cameraman was among five journalists killed in the Nasser Hospital attack yesterday.
Germany’s Foreign Ministry wrote on X that the work of journalists was “indispensable for depicting the devastating reality” of Gaza.
Israeli military officials, cited in local media, claimed tank fire was responsible for the attack, which Prime Minister Netanyahu described as a “tragic mishap.” But the Belgium-based Hind Rajab Foundation disputed that account, saying footage indicated the use of a guided missile consistent with precision systems. It called the incident a “deliberate double-tap war crime.”
Doctors and aid workers at Nasser Hospital said they fear becoming “patients in their own hospital.” Al Jazeera quoted ICU nurse Anneliese Stephenson Wenn as saying staff are “tense” and suffering “severe psychological trauma.”
Palestinians look on as smoke rises following an explosion during an Israeli operation in Gaza City, August 26 [Reuters]
“They’re coming in after staying up all night listening to bomb strikes hit all around them and wondering if they’re going to be the next one that’s hit,” she said. Patients, too, remain in fear after shrapnel from the attack injured people inside the hospital.
Israel’s war on Gaza
The war, now in its 21st month, has killed more than 62,744 Palestinians, according to Gazan health authorities. Most of the victims are reported to be women and children.
Last November, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Israel is also facing a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over its conduct in Gaza.
