UNITED States President Donald Trump on Wednesday, July 2, announced that Israel had agreed to the terms required to finalise a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, sparking renewed hope in the war-torn enclave.
“Israel has agreed to the necessary conditions to finalise the 60-Day CEASEFIRE, during which time we will work with all parties to end the war,” Trump said, without specifying the conditions.
The ICIR reports that in a social media post on Tuesday, Trump said that Qatar and Egypt would present a ‘final’ proposal to Hamas, following what he called a “long and productive” meeting between his envoys and Israeli officials.
Neither Israel nor Hamas issued an immediate official response to Trump’s latest claim regarding progress on the ceasefire plan.
A source close to Hamas said that the leaders of the Islamist faction were expected to debate the proposal and seek clarifications from mediators before giving an official response.
At the end of May, Hamas announced it was seeking changes to a US-backed ceasefire proposal. Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, dismissed the proposal as “totally unacceptable.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing mounting public pressure to secure a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and bring an end to the nearly two-year-long war, a step strongly resisted by hardline members of his right-wing ruling coalition.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in a post on X on Wednesday that most members of the coalition government would support a deal aimed at securing the release of the 50 hostages still held by Hamas militants in Gaza, of which around 20 are believed to be still alive.
“If there is an opportunity to do so, we must not miss it!” he wrote on X.
Gaza health authorities reported that at least 20 Palestinians were killed in separate Israeli airstrikes and gunfire in the northern and southern parts of the enclave, as the Israeli military issued additional evacuation orders late Tuesday.
The war started on October 7, 2023, when Hamas fighters launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, marking one of the deadliest days in Israel’s history.
According to the Gaza health ministry, Israel’s military offensive in response has killed over 56,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, displaced nearly all of the enclave’s 2.3 million residents, and triggered a deepening humanitarian crisis.
The United Nations has said that more than 80 per cent of the territory is now an Israeli-militarised zone or under displacement orders.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues.