Israeli PM hopes Trump can help seal a ceasefire deal
JERUSALEM, July 6: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he believes his upcoming discussions with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday will help advance negotiations on a Gaza hostage release and ceasefire deal. Israeli negotiators resumed the talks in Qatar on Sunday.
Before boarding his flight to Washington on Sunday, Benjamin Netanyahu said that he had instructed Israeli negotiators to secure a ceasefire agreement based on the conditions Israel has already accepted.
“I believe the discussion with President Trump can certainly help advance these results,” he said, adding that he was determined to ensure the return of hostages held in Gaza and to remove the threat of Hamas to Israel.
Netanyahu will visit the White House for the third time since Trump returned to power nearly six months ago.
Public pressure continues to mount on Netanyahu to secure a permanent ceasefire and end the war in Gaza. While some hardline members of his right-wing coalition oppose the move, others—such as Foreign Minister Gideon Saar—have expressed support.
Hamas said on Friday it had responded “positively” to a U.S.-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal, just days after Trump announced that Israel had agreed to the necessary conditions to finalize a 60-day truce.
However, a Palestinian official from a Hamas-allied separatist group warned that key concerns remained unresolved, including the delivery of humanitarian aid, access through the Rafah crossing from southern Israel to Egypt, and a clear timetable for Israeli troop withdrawals.
Netanyahu’s office rejected the changes Hamas demanded to the ceasefire proposal, calling them “not acceptable to Israel.”
Despite this, his office confirmed that the Israeli delegation would still travel to Qatar to continue efforts to secure the return of hostages based on the Qatari proposal that Israel had already accepted.
Netanyahu has repeatedly demanded that Hamas disarm, but the separatist group has so far refused to engage on the issue.
He also said he and Trump would build on the outcome of last month’s 12-day air war with Iran and work to ensure that Tehran never acquires a nuclear weapon. Netanyahu added that recent developments in the Middle East had created an opportunity to expand the circle of peace.
HOSTAGES:
On Saturday evening, crowds gathered in a public square near the defense ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv, demanding a ceasefire deal and the return of approximately 50 hostages still held in Gaza. Demonstrators waved Israeli flags, chanted slogans, and held posters displaying photos of the hostages.
The latest round of bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict began on October 7, 2023.
Gaza’s health ministry reports that Israel’s retaliatory military assault on the enclave has killed over 57,000 Palestinians. The offensive has also triggered a hunger crisis, displaced much of the population—mostly within Gaza—and left the territory in ruins.
Officials believe around 20 of the remaining hostages are still alive. Diplomatic negotiations have secured the release of most hostages, while the Israeli military has recovered several others through its operations.
