President Trump said Tuesday that Israel has agreed to a proposal for a two-month ceasefire in its war with Hamas.
“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,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. “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.”
Mr. Trump did not give any details on the proposed deal, and it’s unclear whether Hamas will accept it. Neither Israel nor Hamas has commented publicly on the terms of a possible agreement.
The president said Qatar and Egypt — who have previously helped mediate talks with Hamas — “will deliver this final proposal.”
Mr. Trump is set to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington next Monday. The president told reporters Tuesday he expects to discuss both Gaza and Iran, which struck a separate ceasefire deal with Israel last week after a 12-day campaign between the two countries that included U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.
Earlier Tuesday, Mr. Trump said a ceasefire could begin “sometime next week.”
Prior pushes for a ceasefire have stalled. In late May, Mr. Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff proposed a 60-day ceasefire that would have required Hamas to release 10 living hostages taken from Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, as well as the remains of another 18 dead hostages. In exchange, Israel would have released 125 “life sentence” prisoners, 1,111 Palestinian detainees and 180 deceased Palestinians.
Israel supported that proposal, but Hamas said it responded with “notes and amendments.” Witkoff called Hamas’ response “totally unacceptable.”
The war began when Hamas launched a terror attack on southern Israel in October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages back to the Gaza Strip. Israel responded with an intense air and ground offensive in the Palestinian territory, killing more than 56,000 people, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
The two sides have agreed to two prior ceasefire and hostage release deals since the start of the 21-month conflict, the most recent of which ran from January to March.
Since then, Netanyahu has said there is “no way” he will agree to end the war until Hamas is defeated, though he left the door open to cutting deals to release hostages.
Israel said Tuesday it had “expanded its operations to additional areas within the Gaza Strip, eliminating dozens of terrorists.” Hamas’ health ministry said Tuesday some 116 people had been killed across the territory over a 24-hour period.
Separately, in recent weeks, the U.S. has financially supported a controversial new group to distribute food in the Gaza Strip, but the effort has faced frequent reports of fatal shootings by Israeli forces near food distribution sites. The group, known as the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, has defended its efforts.
