The Times of Israel reports: “US President Donald Trump on Thursday defended his administration’s unprecedented direct negotiations with Hamas, saying they were being conducted for the benefit of Israel and in order to secure the release of Israeli hostages.

‘We are helping Israel in those discussions because we’re talking about Israeli hostages,’ Trump told reporters while signing executive orders in the Oval Office.

‘We’re not doing anything in terms of Hamas. We’re not giving cash,’ he continued. ‘You have to negotiate. There’s a difference between negotiating and paying. We want to get these people out.’

Reflecting on his meetings with a group of eight released hostages on Wednesday, Trump said he could not believe their stories about how poorly they were treated in captivity…”