Donald Trump ‘hopeful’ of Israel ceasefire deal this week

Donald Trump has reiterated his hope that a ceasefire in Gaza is on track, but the IDF warns plans for a ‘humanitarian city’ in the Strip could set back truce hopes.

Smoke billows after Israeli strikes on Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip. Picture; AFP.

Donald Trump has reiterated his hope that a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is on track, telling reporters there could be a deal this week.

Indirect talks in Doha over a proposed 60-day ceasefire and release of 10 living hostages have appeared to stall, with both sides refusing to budge on key sticking points.

However, the US President told reporters: “Gaza – we are talking, and hopefully we’re going to get that straightened out over the next week”, repeating remarks he made before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White House last week.

Mr Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, also said he was “hopeful” of a positive result.

However, Israeli media reports that military chiefs are warning that a plan for a “humanitarian city” in southern Gaza, where at least 600,000 Palestinians would be relocated, could put the negotiations at risk.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz last week outlined plans to ultimately relocate all Gaza’s Palestinians into a closed zone along the border with Egypt, to keep ordinary citizens separate from Hamas militants.

Israel’s Channel 12 TV reports that the Israel Defence Forces is warning it would take up to five months until the planned city was operational, and Hamas might interpret the plan as a signal Israel intends to resume the war after the ceasefire.

The broadcaster also reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich the war with Hamas would resume after the ceasefire.

“After the pause, we will transfer the population in the Strip southward and impose a siege (on northern Gaza),” Mr Netanyahu reportedly told Mr Smotrich, who along with fellow far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir vehemently opposes an end to the war with Hamas. The pair have threatened to leave the government if Mr Netanyahu agrees any deal that sees the war end with Hamas still in power.

Jerusalem has said it would end the war only once Hamas surrenders, disarms and goes into exile, something it refuses to do.

A sticking point has emerged over Israeli troops’ deployment in Gaza during a truce.

Amid growing frustration over the lack of positive action, families of some hostages demonstrated outside Mr Netanyahu’s office on Sunday evening. “The overwhelming majority of the people in Israel have spoken loudly and clearly: We want to do a deal, even at the cost of ending this war, and we want to do it now,” said Jon Polin, father of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli-American hostage killed in captivity.

In central Gaza, officials at Al-Awda Hospital said the facility had received 10 bodies after an Israeli strike on a water collection point in nearby Nuseirat. Among the dead were six children.

The Israeli military said it was targeting a militant but a technical error made its munitions fall “dozens of metres from the target”.

With AP