President Trump said Tuesday that Israel had agreed to “conditions to finalize” a 60-day cease-fire with Hamas, though he provided no detail about the terms of a potential deal.
The office of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the announcement, and Israeli officials have not yet confirmed they have agreed to conditions.
Mr. Trump has been pressing Israel and Hamas to end their nearly two-year-old war. The announcement, which the president made on Truth Social, his social media site, comes ahead of a meeting Mr. Trump is scheduled to have with Mr. Netanyahu in Washington next week.
Mr. Trump said his representatives had a “long and productive meeting with the Israelis today on Gaza,” and if the cease-fire is agreed upon, there would be talks about a permanent end to the conflict in Gaza. He said the proposal backed by the United States and Israel would be delivered to Hamas by Qatar and Egypt, countries that have long served as mediators for the Palestinian militant group in its indirect negotiations with Israel over an end to the war in Gaza.
“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,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
Just last week, Mr. Trump announced a cease-fire agreement on social media, between Israel and Iran. Days earlier, the United States had joined an Israeli bombing campaign against Iran’s nuclear sites.
Mr. Netanyahu has vowed to fight Hamas until it is defeated. But he is facing increasing pressure at home to end the conflict by agreeing to a cease-fire deal that would see Hamas release the remaining hostages taken in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that ignited the war in Gaza. As many as 20 captives are believed to still be alive, and the remains of about 30 others are still in the enclave.
Mr. Trump on Sunday publicly pressed for a deal. “MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!” he wrote on social media.
That day, Mr. Netanyahu told a group at the Shin Bet, the country’s domestic intelligence agency, that Israel’s campaign targeting nuclear sites in Iran had “opened up many opportunities, first among them to rescue the hostages.” Israel still must “resolve the Gaza issue and defeat Hamas,” he said, adding, “I believe that we will succeed in both these missions.”
Some analysts have speculated that Mr. Netanyahu may now be willing to agree to end the war in Gaza, even if it risks far-right political allies leaving his governing coalition.
Mr. Trump has pressed for a cease-fire agreement in Gaza since before he took office in January, and a phased truce did go into effect that month. The accord, which was supposed to be negotiated in stages, collapsed in March, and Israel resumed fighting with Hamas. Negotiations have been at an impasse since.
Israel has previously accepted versions of a proposal put forward by Steve Witkoff, the White House special envoy, which calls for a roughly two-month cease-fire and the release of about half the living hostages, along with the remains of some others. Talks for a permanent cease-fire would take place during that period.
But longstanding obstacles appear to be unresolved. Hamas has said it will only release all the remaining Israeli hostages if Israel’s military fully withdraws from Gaza and there is a guaranteed end to the war. Israel, for its part, has insisted that Hamas must surrender, disarm and send its leaders in Gaza into exile.
Israel and Hamas are facing pressure from the international community to end the deadly conflict that has displaced the roughly two million Palestinians in Gaza, often repeatedly, and caused widespread privation and hunger. Israel imposed a blockade on humanitarian aid entering Gaza after fighting with Hamas resumed in March, for about 80 days, raising alarms from international health organizations as supplies in the enclave dwindled, worsening the hunger crisis.
The ministry of health in Gaza, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, says that more than 56,000 people have been killed and more than 134,000 have been wounded since the fighting began.
Isabel Kershner contributed reporting.
Ephrat Livni is a Times reporter covering breaking news around the world. She is based in Washington.
Tyler Pager is a White House correspondent for The Times, covering President Trump and his administration.
The post Trump Says Israel Agrees to Conditions for Gaza Cease-Fire Proposal appeared first on New York Times.
