TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday urged progress in ceasefire talks in the 20-month war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, though some weary Palestinians were skeptical about the chances. Israel issued a new mass evacuation order for parts of northern Gaza.
Ron Dermer, a top adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was set to travel to Washington this week for talks on a ceasefire, an Israeli official said, and plans were being made for Netanyahu to travel there in the coming weeks, a sign there may be movement on a deal.
Netanyahu was meeting with his security Cabinet on Sunday evening, the official said on condition of anonymity to discuss plans that hadn’t been finalized.
“MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!” Trump wrote on social media early Sunday. Trump raised expectations Friday by saying there could be an agreement within the next week.
Some Palestinians doubtful of latest efforts
An eight-week ceasefire was reached as Trump took office earlier this year, but Israel resumed the war in March after trying to get Hamas to accept new terms on next steps.
“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.”
Israeli attacks continued. An airstrike Sunday evening hit a house sheltering displaced people in the Jabaliya al-Nazla area, killing at least 15, according to Fares Awad, head of the Gaza’s Health Ministry’s ambulance and emergency services in the territory’s north. He said women and children made up over half the dead.
Israel’s military did not comment on the strike, but the area fell under the latest evacuation order.
During a visit to Israel’s internal security service, Shin Bet, Netanyahu said that the Israel-Iran war and ceasefire have opened many opportunities: “First of all, to rescue the hostages. Of course, we will also have to solve the Gaza issue, to defeat Hamas, but I estimate that we will achieve both tasks.”
Major sticking point for any deal
But talks between Israel and Hamas have repeatedly faltered over a major sticking point — whether the war should end as part of any ceasefire agreement.
Hamas official Mahmoud Merdawi accused Netanyahu of stalling progress on a deal, saying on social media that the Israeli leader insists on a temporary agreement that would free just 10 of the hostages. About 50 hostages remain, with less than half believed to be alive.
Netanyahu spokesperson Omer Dostri said that “Hamas was the only obstacle to ending the war,” without addressing Merdawi’s claim.
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.
The war in Gaza began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in which militants killed 1,200 people and took roughly 250 hostage.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said that another 88 people had been killed by Israeli fire over the past 24 hours, raising the war’s toll among Palestinians to 56,500. The ministry, which operates under the Hamas government, doesn’t distinguish between militants and civilians in its count, but says more than half of the dead are women and children.
The war has displaced most of Gaza’s population, often multiple times, obliterated much of the urban landscape and left people overwhelmingly reliant on outside aid, which Israel has limited since the end of the latest ceasefire.
Fewer than half of Gaza’s hospitals are even partly functional, and more than 4,000 children need medical evacuation abroad, a new U.N. humanitarian assessment says.
“We are exhausted, we are tired. We hope to God that the war will end,” said one Palestinian, Mahmoud Wadi.
Military moves toward center of Gaza City
Israel’s military ordered a mass evacuation of Palestinians in large swaths of northern Gaza, home to hundreds of thousands who had returned during the ceasefire earlier this year.
The order includes multiple neighborhoods in eastern and northern Gaza City, as well as the Jabaliya refugee camp. Palestinians in Gaza City began loading children, bedding and other essentials onto donkey carts, uprooted once more.
The military will expand its attacks westward to the city’s center, with calls for people to move toward the Muwasi area in southern Gaza, Col. Avichay Adraee, a military spokesperson, said on social media.
The offensive aims to move Palestinians to southern Gaza, so forces can more freely operate against militants. Rights groups say it would amount to forcible displacement.
Trump slams Netanyahu trial
Trump also doubled down on his criticism of the legal proceedings against Netanyahu, who is on trial for alleged corruption, calling it “a POLITICAL WITCH HUNT.”
In the post Saturday evening, Trump said the trial interfered with ceasefire talks, saying Netanyahu “is right now in the process of negotiating a Deal with Hamas, which will include getting the Hostages back.”
Last week, Trump called for the trial to be canceled. It was a dramatic interference in the domestic affairs of a sovereign state. It unnerved many in Israel, despite Trump’s popularity there.
The trial has repeatedly been postponed at Netanyahu’s request, citing security and diplomatic developments.
On Sunday, the court agreed to call off two more days of testimony by him scheduled this week.
