Did Trump Ever Go to Gaza as He Claims?

• CrossFireArabia
• October 9, 2024

Former US President Donald Trump claimed to have been to Gaza – although there is no evidence of him ever visiting the war-torn Palestinian territory.

In an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that was broadcast on Monday, the Republican nominee in November’s presidential election said that he had been in the tiny coastal strip.

Asked by Hewitt if Gaza could be transformed into Monaco if properly rebuilt, Trump replied, “It could be better than Monaco. It has the best location in the Middle East, the best water, the best everything. It’s got, it is the best, I’ve said it for years,” according to the Quds News Network.

“I’ve been there, and it’s rough. It’s a rough place … before all of the attacks and before the back and forth what’s happened over the last couple of years.”

He went on: “I mean, they have the back of a plant facing the ocean, you know. There was no ocean as far as that was concerned. They never took advantage of it. You know, as a developer, it could be the most beautiful place – the weather, the water, the whole thing, the climate. It could be so beautiful. It could be the best thing in the Middle East.”

The New York Times said there was no record of Trump ever having gone to Gaza – either when he was president or before.

The paper quoted a campaign official, who claimed: “Gaza is in Israel. President Trump has been to Israel.”

Asked by Axios to provide further explanation, Karoline Leavitt, a Trump campaign spokesperson, responded in an emailed statement that the former president “has been to Gaza previously”, although she did not say when.

Trump’s comments about Gaza echoed those made by his son-in-law and former adviser Jared Kushner earlier this year. Kushner had called Gaza’s waterfront property “very valuable.”

Western Media: ‘Do You Condemn Hamas?’

• CrossFireArabia
• October 6, 2024

Amid Pressure Israeli Army Admits 38 Injuries in 24 Hrs

• CrossFireArabia
• October 5, 2024

The Israeli army, Saturday, acknowledged 38 of its soldiers were injured in the last 24 hours across southern Lebanon, Gaza Strip, and the West Bank.

This update comes as the military faces accusations of concealing the actual scale of its losses during a genocidal campaign against Gaza, which has escalated alongside rising assaults in the West Bank and recently extended to various areas of Lebanon, including the capital Beirut.

According to the latest data published on the military’s official website, the number of injured soldiers since Oct. 7, 2023 – the date marking the start of the genocide in Gaza – has reached 4,567, with 38 injuries reported in the past 24 hours.

The data did not provide detailed figures for injuries among soldiers on each front.

Among the injured, 695 soldiers are reported to be in “serious” condition, while 1,147 are classified as “moderate,” and the remaining cases are considered “mild,” it said.

Despite reports of two soldiers killed and 24 injured, including two critically, following drone attacks from Iraq in northern Israel on Friday, the military’s official website has not updated the total number of soldier fatalities, which remains at 726.

Since Sept. 23, Israel has launched massive airstrikes against what it calls Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, killing more than 1,180 people and injuring over 3,318 others, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Hezbollah has confirmed in multiple statements over recent hours and days that it has successfully repelled attempts by Israeli forces to penetrate Lebanese territory, resulting in a significant number of casualties among Israeli troops.

Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed over 41,800 people, most of them women and children, following an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last October.

Due to Israeli attacks, at least 2,036 people have since been killed, over 9,500 injured, and 1.2 million others displaced, according to Lebanese authorities.

The international community has warned that Israeli attacks in Lebanon could escalate the Gaza conflict into a wider regional war.