Hope for new ceasefire and hostage release

Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu say new negotiations are in the works aimed at getting more hostages released from Hamas captivity in Gaza.

President Donald Trump speaks as Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waves on leaving the West Wing of the White House on Monday. Picture: AP/Mark Schiefelbein

US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu say new negotiations are in the works aimed at getting more hostages released from Hamas captivity in Gaza.

Those comments on Monday US time following their White House meeting came as Arab media reported that Egypt has put forward a new proposal for a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza that provides for the return of eight living Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight dead hostages.

The London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported, citing a senior Egyptian source, that offer had been made in exchange for the release of large numbers of Palestinian prisoners and a truce lasting 40 to 70 days.

The report said the proposal was a compromise between a Hamas offer to release five hostages in exchange for a 50-day truce and Israel’s demand for 11 living hostages.

However, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel newspaper that Jerusalem had not received any updated Egyptian proposal for a hostage release deal with Hamas.

The reported Egyptian proposal came as a Hamas delegation was set to arrive in Cairo for ceasefire discussions with mediators, according to Qatari-owned news outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

Speaking in the Oval Office, Prime Minister Netanyahu told reporters that Israel and the Trump administration were working on a new hostage deal.

“We’re working now on another deal that we hope will succeed, and we’re committed to getting all the hostages out,” Mr Netanyahu said.

Mr Trump for his part said: “We are trying very hard to get the hostages out. We’re looking at another ceasefire, we’ll see what happens.”

Mr Netanyahu added that “the hostages are in agony, and we want to get them all out.”

The Israeli leader, seated next to Mr Trump, highlighted an earlier hostage release agreement negotiated in part by Mr Trump’s regional envoy Steve Witkoff that “got 25 out”.

Mr Netanyahu’s Washington visit follows the collapse of Israel’s six-week truce with Hamas, whose militants launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, that triggered the Israeli invasion of Gaza.

The fragile ceasefire ended with Israel’s resumption of air strikes on Gaza on March 18.

The recent truce had allowed the return of 33 Israeli hostages, eight of whom were dead, in exchange for the release of some 1800 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

The prime minister and his government maintain - against the advice of most hostage families - that increased military pressure is the only way to force Hamas to return the remaining hostages, dead or alive.

Of the 251 hostages abducted during Hamas’s October 7 attack, 58 remain in captivity in Gaza, including 34 who the Israeli military says are dead.

On another issue, after staying silent of late on his much-criticised idea of the US taking over Gaza and displacing its two million people, Mr Trump plugged it again on Tuesday.

“I think it’s an incredible piece of important real estate, and I think it’s something that we would be involved in,” Mr Trump said.

Trump has repeatedly spoken of Gaza, which the Palestinians want as part of a future state of their own, as a business opportunity for America, saying Gaza could be transformed into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”

Arab nations have rejected this proposal vehemently, including Egypt and Jordan, where Mr Trump has suggested the Palestinians of Gaza be sent to live.

“But you know, having a peace force like the United States there, controlling and owning the Gaza Strip would be a good thing, because right now ... all I hear about is killing and Hamas and problems,” Mr Trump said.

He added: “And if you take the people, the Palestinians, and move them around to different countries, and you have plenty of countries that will do that, and you really have a freedom, a freedom zone.”

AFP