Donald Trump has urged Israel and Hamas to agree a ceasefire – as the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza reached 56,500.
“MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!,” he wrote on social media on Sunday.
The US president had raised expectations of a possible agreement this week, but some Palestinians were doubtful of the latest efforts to end the 20-month war that has laid waste to most of Gaza.
“Since the beginning of the war, they have been promising us something like this: release the hostages and we will stop the war,” said one Palestinian, Abdel Hadi al Hour. “They did not stop the war.”
An eight-week ceasefire was reached in the final days of Joe Biden’s US presidency, but Israel resumed the war in March after trying to get Hamas to accept new terms on next steps.
Meanwhile, Israeli attacks in Gaza continued on Sunday.
At least 15 people were killed when an IDF airstrike hit a house sheltering displaced people in the Jabaliya al-Nazla area, according to an official in Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
He said women and children made up more than half the dead.
Israel’s military ordered a mass evacuation of Palestinians in large swathes of northern Gaza, home to hundreds of thousands who had returned during the ceasefire earlier this year.
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During a visit to Israel’s internal security service Shin Bet, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Israel-Iran war and ceasefire have opened many opportunities.
“First of all, to rescue the hostages,” he said. “Of course, we will also have to solve the Gaza issue, to defeat Hamas, but I estimate that we will achieve both tasks.”
The war in Gaza, which has continued for more than a year and a half, began after Hamas militants launched attacks in Israel on 7 October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages.
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Talks between Israel and Hamas have stalled over whether or not the war should end as part of any ceasefire.
Hamas official Mahmoud Merdawi accused Mr Netanyahu of stalling progress on a deal, saying the Israeli leader insists on a temporary agreement that would free just 10 of the hostages.
Omer Dostri, a spokesperson for Mr Netanyahu, said that “Hamas was the only obstacle to ending the war”, without addressing Mr Merdawi’s claim.
The death toll in Gaza has reached 56,500, according to the territory’s health ministry.
The Hamas-run authority does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but has previously said more than half of those killed in the conflict were women and children.
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Hamas says it is willing to free all the hostages in exchange for a full withdrawal of Israeli troops and an end to the war in Gaza.
Israel rejects that offer, saying it will agree to end the war if Hamas surrenders, disarms and goes into exile – something that the group refuses.
