Following up on U.S.-facilitated ceasefire after 12 days of Israel-Iran conflict, President Donald Trump Wednesday expected “very good news” on Israe’s 20-month-old war in Gaza Strip.
In Europe for a NATO summit, Trump said that “great progress” was being made to end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza as a new ceasefire push began.
Hamas is a Palestinian militant organization whose attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, became the trigger of the latest conflict between Israeli and Palestinians.
“I think great progress is being made on Gaza,” Trump said in the Netherlands after months of severe criticism by major European countries over Israel’s conduct of war in Gaza and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s tactic of blocking essential aid for people in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Trump, speaking in the Netherlands’ town The Hague, said his special envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff had told him “Gaza is very close.”
The U.S. president linked hopeful news about a breakthrough on Gaza war to Israel-Iran ceasefire that came into effect a day earlier on Tuesday towards ending the 12-day war.
According to reports, Netanyahu claimed that Israel’s attack on Iran’s nuclear and missile facilities could help end the Gaza conflict.
Netanyahu also faces growing calls from opposition politicians; relatives of hostages being held in Gaza and even members of his ruling coalition to bring an end to the fighting.
The Israeli prime minister has defended his actions, saying he wants to see the return of all Israeli hostages and render Hamas, a U.S-declared foreign terror organization, incapable of ruling the Palestinian territory again.
Meanwhile, Qatar has announced that it would launch a new push for a ceasefire, with Hamas on Wednesday saying talks had “intensified”.
“Our communications with the brother mediators in Egypt and Qatar have not stopped and have intensified in recent hours,” a Hamas official, Taher al-Nunu, said.
However, he said the group had “not yet received any new proposals” to end the war.
The Israeli government declined to comment on any new ceasefire talks. The government has said efforts to return Israeli hostages in Gaza were ongoing “on the battlefield and via negotiations”.
In Gaza, another 60 Palestinians were killed while trying to get aid in the past 24 hours.
Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed since the US- and Israel-backed GHF took over distribution, a process termed as a ‘death trap’ by UN officials.
US says troubled by humanitarian situation in Gaza as UN fears famine
The number of Palestinians killed by Israeli Defense forces since October 7, 2023 has topped 56000 while hundreds of thousands of others have been injured or maimed during Israeli war on Gaza.
The Hamas attack on southern Israel killed 1200 people, according to Israeli officials. Besides, Hamas militants kidnapped around 250 people and took them as hostages to Gaza.
A UN human rights body said more than 400 Palestinians have been shot dead in recent weeks as they tried to reach food distribution points run by the U.S. and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
