Gaza: What Trump’s new Gaza ceasefire proposal means

Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Wednesday it was discussing proposals for a Gaza ceasefire received from mediators, after US President Donald Trump said Israel backed a 60-day truce in the war-ravaged territory. Nearly 21 months of war have created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip, where […]

Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Wednesday it was discussing proposals for a Gaza ceasefire received from mediators, after US President Donald Trump said Israel backed a 60-day truce in the war-ravaged territory.

Nearly 21 months of war have created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has recently expanded its military operations against Hamas militants.

The civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 33 people on Wednesday.

Trump urged Hamas on Tuesday to accept a 60-day ceasefire, saying Israel had agreed to finalise such a deal. The Israeli government has not commented on that claim.

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Hamas said in a statement Wednesday it was “conducting national consultations to discuss what we received from the proposals of the… mediators”.

It said it aimed “to reach an agreement that guarantees ending the aggression, achieving the withdrawal (of Israel from Gaza) and urgently aiding our people in the Gaza Strip”.

Out of 251 hostages seized by Palestinian militants in October 2023, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.

A Palestinian source familiar with the negotiations told AFP, “There are no fundamental changes in the new proposal” under discussion compared to previous terms presented by the United States.

The source said the new proposal “includes a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release half of the living Israeli captives in the Gaza Strip, in exchange for Israel releasing a number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees”.

 

 Ceasefire push

After months of stalled mediation efforts to bring an end to the war, Trump said on social media on Tuesday that a new ceasefire push has Israel’s support.

“Israel has agreed to the necessary conditions to finalise the 60-Day CEASEFIRE, during which time we will work with all parties to end the War,” Trump said.

He added that Qatari and Egyptian mediators, who have been in direct contact with Hamas throughout the war, would deliver “this final proposal”.

“I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better – IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE.”

Trump is due to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House next week.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said he saw “some positive signs” in the process.

“We are serious in our will to reach a hostage deal and a ceasefire,” he said. “Our goal is to begin proximity talks as soon as possible.”

He said earlier on X that any chance for a deal that would lead to hostages being freed in Gaza “must not be missed”.

Israel launched its offensive in response to Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 57,012 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers its figures reliable.

 

 Fresh attacks

AFP footage from an area hit by Israeli’s strikes on Wednesday showed makeshift tents blown apart as Palestinians picked through the wreckage trying to salvage what was left of their belongings.

One man held a pack of nappies, asking: “Is this a weapon?”

“They came here thinking it was a safe area and they were killed… What did they do?” said another resident, Maha Abu Rizq, against a backdrop of destruction.

AFP footage from nearby Khan Yunis city showed infants covered in blood being rushed into Nasser Hospital. One man carrying a child whose face was smeared with blood screamed: “Children, children!”

Some appeared terrified while others lay still on hospital beds in bloodied bandages and clothes as medics treated them.

In southern Gaza, civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that five members of the same family were killed in an Israeli air strike on Wednesday that hit a tent housing displaced people in the Al-Mawasi area.

Despite being declared a safe zone by Israel in December 2023, Al-Mawasi has been hit by repeated Israeli strikes.

Among other fatalities, Bassal later reported five people killed by Israeli army fire near an aid distribution site close to the southern city of Rafah and a further death following Israeli fire near an aid site in the centre of the territory.

They were the latest in a string of deadly incidents that have hit people waiting for food.