Pompeo on Golan Decision: We’re Simply Recognizing Facts on the Ground

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo waves as he speaks at the 2019 American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference, at Washington Convention Center, in Washington, Monday, March 25, 2019. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo waves as he speaks at the 2019 American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference, at Washington Convention Center, in Washington, Monday, March 25, 2019. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
TT
20

Pompeo on Golan Decision: We’re Simply Recognizing Facts on the Ground

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo waves as he speaks at the 2019 American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference, at Washington Convention Center, in Washington, Monday, March 25, 2019. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo waves as he speaks at the 2019 American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference, at Washington Convention Center, in Washington, Monday, March 25, 2019. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday reiterated his support to a decision made by President Donald Trump to recognize the Golan Heights as Israeli territory.

“We’re simply recognizing facts on the ground and the reality and doing the right thing,” Pompeo told reporters at the State Department.

Asked about the stances expressed by several states in rejecting the Golan recognition, he said: “We are continuing to have conversations with ... each of them about this issue, about our decision and why we believe this is fundamentally the right decision as well.”

Trump signed a proclamation Monday in which Washington recognized Israel's annexation of the strategic plateau, despite UN resolutions that call for Israel's withdrawal from the occupied Syrian territory.

Pompeo said Trump’s decision on the Golan is similar to his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

“Israel was fighting a defensive battle to save its nation, and it cannot be the case that a UN resolution is a suicide pact,” he said in response to a question on whether the US was setting a precedent that powerful countries can actually overtake land over international law.



Israel Kills 40 Palestinians in Gaza

Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli strike on the Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, on July 9, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli strike on the Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, on July 9, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
TT
20

Israel Kills 40 Palestinians in Gaza

Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli strike on the Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, on July 9, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli strike on the Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, on July 9, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

At least 40 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, hospital officials said Wednesday.

Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis said the dead included 17 women and 10 children. It said one strike killed 10 people from the same family, including three children.

The Israeli military did not comment on specific strikes, but said it had struck more than 100 targets across Gaza over the past day, including militants, booby-trapped structures, weapons storage facilities, missile launchers and tunnels.

The war started after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Most of the hostages have been released in earlier ceasefires.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.