Trump says Israel has agreed to Gaza ceasefire as White House cuts supplies to Ukraine

US President Donald Trump said Israel has agreed to a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and that the plan will now be presented to Hamas.

“Israel has agreed to the necessary conditions to finalize the 60 Day CEASEFIRE, during which time we will work with all parties to end the War,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, adding that Qatar and Egypt will deliver the final proposal to the Palestinian militant group.

Trump speaks to the media at the White House on Tuesday.Credit: AP

“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.”

A deal would pause, if not end, a war between Israel and Iran-backed Hamas that’s raged since October 2023, killing tens of thousands of Palestinians, devastating Gaza and destabilising the wider Middle East. It would also lead to many of the remaining hostages held by Hamas being released.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet Trump at the White House on Monday.

It’s unclear if Trump, who consistently talks up his ability to end conflicts around the world, aims to have a truce finalised by then. He said that last week’s ceasefire between Israel and Iran, which he helped broker, presented an opportunity to end the conflict in Gaza.

Israeli soldiers work on a tank at a staging area near the border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel on Tuesday.Credit: AP

Netanyahu’s government agreed to a US proposal for a 60-day truce weeks ago. However, Washington and the other main mediators – Qatar and Egypt – were unable to get the sides to overcome key sticking points.

Hamas has said any ceasefire must end the war permanently and has also refused Israel’s demands to disarm and remove itself from power in Gaza.

Israel hasn’t publicly commented on Trump’s latest remarks. But an Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said intense pressure from the Trump administration on both Israel and Hamas is having some effect, leading to modest optimism within Israel that a deal is closer.

Qatar and Egypt, the official said, will make it clearer to Hamas that talks during the truce would be aimed at ending the war. The official said Israel is likely to send a delegation to negotiations expected to be held either in Cairo or Doha in the coming week.

Netanyahu recently stated that Israel’s key concern is to return the remaining hostages in Gaza, a shift from previous statements that the war’s two aims are co-equal – the destruction of Hamas and the return of the captives.

Israel’s military chief, Eyal Zamir, said that expanding the assault on Hamas would endanger the remaining hostages and described Hamas as a “dead organisation”, according to Israeli media reports.

Far-right Israeli ministers expressed anger at those statements and are pushing for the defeat of Hamas to remain at the top of the agenda. That complicates Netanyahu’s position. Still, if negotiations last through July, when parliament goes into recess until mid-October, it will be much harder for those ministers to bring down the government.

Trump last week said he thought a ceasefire in Gaza could be “close”. But he didn’t provide further details. The war began with Hamas’ assault on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed 1200 people and saw about 250 abducted.

Of those, about 50 hostages are still in Gaza, with roughly 20 thought by Israel to be alive.

Talks have stalled since the last ceasefire ended in March. During that roughly two-month truce, tens of hostages were released.

Palestinians walk through the ruins of a Gaza City cafe after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike on Monday.Credit: AP

International pressure to halt the war has grown with aid agencies saying the 2 million residents of Gaza are at risk of famine. More than 56,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military campaign, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.

Though Hamas has lost most of its key leaders and stockpile of missiles in the war, now almost 21 months old, it remains a threat to Israeli forces. Last month was the deadliest for the Israel Defence Forces in Gaza since the start of the year, with about 20 soldiers dying.

Israel’s attacks continue to kill large numbers of people, with at least 74 killed in strikes on Monday, including 30 at a seaside cafe, the Associated Press reported, citing witnesses and health officials in Gaza.

In late May, Israel said it had accepted a US ceasefire proposal for Gaza that included a 60-day pause in the fighting, the restoration of United Nations-led food distribution and Hamas releasing some hostages. A counter-offer from Hamas, which wanted a guarantee that Israeli troops would withdraw, was rejected by Trump’s main Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff.

It is unclear if the conditions Trump said Israel accepted are the same as those in the earlier truce proposal.

While Trump is one of Netanyahu’s closest allies on the world stage, the US president has urged him to end the war and secure the release of the remaining hostages.

On Tuesday, Trump said he would be “very firm” with Netanyahu in a bid to get a ceasefire.

Ukraine arms halted

As the White House pressed for a Middle East ceasefire, in a separate development, it confirmed it had stopped the transfer of artillery rounds and air defences to Ukraine amid falling US stockpiles, as Ukraine endures stepped-up missile and drone attacks in its war with Russia.

The decision comes as Ukraine struggles to repel large-scale Russian missile and drone strikes.

On Sunday, Ukraine said Russia fired a record 537 missiles and drones in “massive” overnight attacks. Russia has intensified its attacks in recent weeks as President Vladimir Putin defies US and European calls to accept a ceasefire to allow for peace talks.

American news website Politico first reported that the US had stopped sending some supplies to Kyiv after a review of US munitions stockpiles amid concerns that the stockpiles had got too low.

Politico reported the move was spearheaded by Undersecretary of Defence for Policy Elbridge Colby, who has long argued that the US is overextended abroad.

He has joined Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth in repeatedly saying that European allies should assume greater responsibility for the continent’s security, including the defence of Ukraine.

Bloomberg, Reuters

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