Gaza Truce Deal This Week Or Next: Trump

(MENAFN- Gulf Times) US President Donald Trump said there is a "very good chance" of a ceasefire in Gaza this week or next, after meeting Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday for the second time in two days to discuss the situation.
"We have a chance this week or next week," Trump told reporters.
Netanyahu said Wednesday his meeting with Trump had focused on freeing hostages held in Gaza, as Israel continued to pound the Palestinian territory amid efforts to reach a ceasefire.
Trump met Netanyahu on Tuesday for the second time in two days to discuss the situation in Gaza, with the president's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff indicating that Israel and Hamas were nearing an agreement on a ceasefire deal after 21 months of war.
Hamas official Taher al-Nono told Reuters they were engaged in a "difficult round" of negotiations.
The top issue for the group's negotiators was the free flow of aid into Gaza as well as the location of withdrawal lines of Israeli forces, and guarantees that negotiations would pave the way to a permanent ceasefire, he said.
Witkoff said the number of issues preventing Israel and Hamas from reaching an agreement had decreased from four to one, expressing optimism for a temporary ceasefire deal by the end of the week.
Witkoff told reporters at a Cabinet meeting that the anticipated agreement would involve a 60-day ceasefire, with the release of 10 living and nine deceased hostages.
In recent weeks Israel's military has continued to hammer Gaza.
In Gaza City, people removed debris after another overnight airstrike, searching through a three-storey house for survivors to no avail.
Hamas has long demanded an end to the war before it would free the remaining hostages. Israel has insisted it would not agree to stop fighting until all hostages are released and Hamas dismantled.
Hamas said ongoing talks for a truce were "tough" due to Israel's "intransigence."
Netanyahu, who after talks with Trump on Tuesday night was still uncompromising in his determination to crush Hamas, said he believed an agreement was on the horizon.
"I think we're getting closer to a deal," he told FOX Business Network's Mornings with Maria programme. "There's a good chance that we'll have it."
Netanyahu is under increasing pressure domestically and politically to end the war, particularly as the death toll of soldiers killed by home-made bombs and ambushes in Gaza increases.
Foreign Minister Gideon Saar also said he thought a temporary deal was "achievable" and could even herald talks for a more lasting peace, while President Isaac Herzog talked of "a historic opportunity" for change.
"We must not miss this moment," he added.
Hamas has vowed "Gaza will not surrender" and a Palestinian official close to the ceasefire talks indicated that Israel was still holding back a deal by refusing to allow free entry of aid in Gaza.
Another Palestinian source familiar with the negotiations in Doha said the Israeli delegation was "mostly listening rather than negotiating, which reflects Netanyahu's ongoing policy of obstruction and sabotaging any potential agreement".
Qatari mediators had warned on Tuesday that it would take time to seal a deal.
The United Nations estimates that most of Gaza's population of more than 2mn has been displaced, with experts saying in May that nearly half a million people faced the risk of starvation.
Israel's campaign has killed at least 57,680 people in Gaza.

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