Trump Offers Peace Plan for Israel-Hamas War
Former U.S. President Donald Trump said he made a final offer for a 60-day ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas, which has been going on for almost 21 months. He said he expected to get a reply soon.
Hamas Responds to the Proposal
Hamas said on its website that it had finished talking with other Palestinian groups about the proposal.
They said their response was positive, and they are ready to start new talks about how to make the plan work.
However, a Palestinian official said there were still problems. These include:
Not enough humanitarian aid for Gaza.
Problems at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
Not enough details about when Israeli troops will leave.
Israel’s Side
Trump said on Tuesday that Israel had agreed to the plan’s conditions. The idea is to use the 60 days to work toward ending the war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hasn’t publicly reacted to Trump’s offer yet. He and Trump are supposed to meet in Washington on Monday. Netanyahu has always said Hamas must give up its weapons, but Hamas refuses to discuss this.
Israeli media said the government is studying Hamas’ response.
On Friday, Trump told reporters he was hopeful:
“They said they gave me a positive response? Well, that’s good… There could be a Gaza deal next week.”
He added that he would be “very firm” with Netanyahu about ending the war quickly and said Netanyahu also wants a ceasefire.
Israeli Airstrikes Continue
Despite talk of peace, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 138 Palestinians in Gaza in the past 24 hours, local health workers said.
At around 2 a.m., an airstrike hit a tent camp in Khan Younis and killed 15 displaced people.
Later that day, people held funerals for those who died.
A 13-year-old girl named Mayar cried at her brother Mahmoud’s funeral:
“He went to get flour so we could eat. He was shot in the neck.”
Calls for Hostage Deal
In Tel Aviv, on U.S. Independence Day, families of hostages held in Gaza protested outside a U.S. embassy building. They called on Trump to make a deal to free all hostages.
They set up a fake Sabbath dinner table with 50 empty chairs, one for each hostage. A banner nearby showed a Trump post that read:
“MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!”
One protester, Gideon Rosenberg, wore a shirt with the image of his kidnapped employee from the Nova festival in October 2023. That person is one of the 20 hostages still believed to be alive after more than 600 days in captivity.
An official said the peace plan includes returning 10 living hostages during the 60 days, along with the bodies of 18 others who died.
Ruby Chen, whose 19-year-old son, Itay (an American-Israeli soldier), was killed during Hamas’ October 7 attack, urged Netanyahu to come back from Washington with a deal.
The War’s Impact
Hamas has ruled Gaza for almost 20 years, but after Israel’s response to the October 7 attack, it now only controls parts of it.
Most of Gaza’s 2 million people have been displaced and face severe hunger.
Local health officials say more than 57,000 Palestinians—mostly civilians—have died in nearly two years of war.
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