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Israel, Hamas Explore Gaza Truce With Top US Official on Shuttle Mission
An Israeli military convoy moves inside the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, as seen from Israel, June 17, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Israelis and Hamas are signalling new efforts to forge a ceasefire deal, their first in a year, to pause the fighting in Gaza and return to Israel at least some of the 100 hostages still held in the Palestinian enclave.
The guarded optimism emerges as US President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan holds talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel on Thursday before heading to Egypt and Qatar, co-mediators with the US on a deal.
A Western diplomat in the region said an Israeli deal with the Palestinian terrorist Hamas group was taking shape but was likely to be limited in scope, involving the release of only a handful of hostages and a short pause in hostilities.
A senior Hamas official, Basem Naim, said any US official would have to apply “real pressure” to get Netanyahu and his government to accept a July 2 US truce proposal and UN resolution which Hamas said it alone had accepted.
Such a truce would be only the second since the start of the war in October 2023. It would also enable the release of Palestinian prisoners, many of whom have been tied to terrorist activities, held by Israel.
Israel‘s Mossad intelligence agency head David Barnea met Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Doha on Wednesday to discuss a ceasefire and hostage release deal, a source briefed on the meeting said.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told his US counterpart Lloyd Austin in a phone call on Wednesday there was now a chance for a deal that would allow the return of all the hostages, including seven US citizens, Katz’s office said.
Anything more than a limited truce remains unlikely so long as both sides stick to demands that have hampered numerous rounds of failed negotiations.
Hamas wants an end to the war before all hostages are freed, while Israel says the war will not end until the hostages return and Hamas no longer rules Gaza or constitutes a threat to Israelis.
“Since the first day of the negotiation, our decision has been clear: an end to the war on our people and exchange of prisoners. To achieve that we have shown all the flexibility and positiveness necessary and the mediators are our witnesses to that,” Naim told Reuters.
The war began after Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages back to Gaza.
Israel responded with an ongoing military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities.
‘HELL TO PAY’
US President-elect Donald Trump has demanded Hamas release the hostages held in Gaza before he takes over from Biden on Jan. 20. Otherwise, Trump has said, there will be “hell to pay.”
Trump’s designated hostage envoy Adam Boehler has said he had spoken to Biden and Netanyahu.
Boehler told Israel‘s Channel 13 news last week: “I would appeal to those people that have taken hostages: Make your best deal now. Make it now because every day that passes, it is going to get harder and harder and more Hamas lives will be lost.”
Although Biden and Trump are working separately, their efforts overlap and both stand to gain from a deal. A US official said Trump’s public statements about the need for a swift ceasefire “have not been harmful.”
The official said the priority is to get the hostages home, whether at the end of the Biden term or the start of Trump’s.
TIMING APT FOR NETANYAHU
The timing may never have been better for Netanyahu after Israel reestablished its reputation as the most powerful Middle East force with operations in Lebanon and Syria that weakened Hamas’s Iranian-backed allies and left it isolated.
Netanyahu’s once-fragile coalition has been strengthened by the addition of Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and his more centrist faction.
A Palestinian official close to the talks described what he called “a fever of negotiations” with ideas emerging on all sides, including among mediators in Egypt and Qatar and said Trump’s involvement had given the talks a boost.
The post Israel, Hamas Explore Gaza Truce With Top US Official on Shuttle Mission first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.