Trump claims Israel ready for Gaza peace deal in bid to boost Hamas ceasefire talks
In a post on Truth Social, the US president wrote: 'Israel has agreed to the necessary conditions to finalize the 60 Day CEASEFIRE, during which time we will work with all parties to end the War.'
He said representatives for Qatar and Egypt will deliver 'this final proposal' to Hamas. There was no immediate official response from Israel or Hamas to Trump's post.
It is unclear what conditions specifically Israel has agreed to and Trump's previous claims that Israel was ready to end the war, including a ceasefire negotiated before his inauguration in January, have quickly broken down as both sides have accused the other of violating agreements on prisoner exchanges.
For many months, negotiators have been discussing intermittently a version of a ceasefire plan put forward by the US envoy, Steve Witkoff, which is close to previous Israeli proposals.
Nonetheless, the claim comes after Trump brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, and on the same day as Israel's strategic affairs minister, Ron Dermer, reportedly met Witkoff and the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio.
'The Qataris and Egyptians, who have worked very hard to help bring Peace, will deliver this final proposal,' Trump wrote. 'I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE.'
Trump is expected to meet the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, at the White House on Monday.
There was a muted reaction in Israel to Trump's statement, with officials stressing many outstanding unresolved issues. Israel has not yet sent negotiating teams either to Cairo or Qatar, where the indirect talks have been taking place.
But Yedioth Ahronoth, a mass-market Israeli newspaper, reported that sources 'involved in the hostage deal talks said that both Israel and Hamas were more motivated, even without clear guarantees that the war would end'.
'The gaps between the sides have not been closed, but they have decreased, and the sense is that a window of opportunity now exists that Israel would like to seize, particularly ahead of Netanyahu's trip and the optimism that Trump has projected,' the newspaper reported.
Israel Hayom, another major newspaper, quoted an Israeli official confirming that Hamas had made concessions. 'This progress was the reason that Netanyahu's trip to Washington was brought forward,' the official told the newspaper.
Hamas downplayed prospects of a deal. Taher al-Nunu, a senior official, told AFP: 'So far, there has been no breakthrough.'
Trump and his aides appear to be seeking to use any momentum from US and Israeli strikes on Iran nuclear sites, as well as a ceasefire that took hold last week in that war, to secure a lasting truce in the war in Gaza.
Trump told reporters during a visit to Florida that he would be 'very firm' with Netanyahu on the need for a speedy Gaza ceasefire. 'We hope it's going to happen. And we're looking forward to it happening sometime next week,' he told reporters. 'We want to get the hostages out.'
Hamas has said it is willing to free remaining hostages in Gaza in return for a permanent end to the conflict and a full Israeli withdrawal from the devastated territory. Israel says the war can end only if Hamas is disarmed and its leadership agrees to go into exile.
But after a polls boost in the wake of Israel's war with Iran and with parliament close to a summer recess, Netanyahu may now feel that he can risk a deal that might alienate rightwing coalition allies. The Israeli military has also told him it has reached many of the objectives set in May, and successive opinion surveys show Israeli public support for a ceasefire that would return the 50 hostages still in Gaza.
The new push for a ceasefire comes after a horrific Israeli attack at al-Baqa cafe on the Gaza seafront on Monday that medical and other officials said killed between 24 and 36 Palestinians, including children.
The Israel-Gaza war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza.
Israel's subsequent military assault has killed more than 56,500 Palestinians, mostly civilians – though experts say this is likely to be an undercount, – displaced almost the entire 2.3 million population and reduced much of the territory to rubble.
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