Trump claims Israel has agreed conditions for Gaza ceasefire

Israel has agreed the “necessary conditions” for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, President Trump has claimed.

In a post on Truth Social, the American president wrote that during the proposed ceasefire his administration would “work with all parties” to end the war, which has claimed more than 60,000 lives.

Trump wrote: “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.

“The Qataris and Egyptians, who have worked very hard to help bring Peace, will deliver this final proposal. I hope … that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE.”

So far, Israel has not confirmed that it has agreed to the deal. There was no immediate response from Hamas.

Trump has said he will be “very firm” with Binyamin Netanyahu when the two leaders meet at the White House next week about pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Trump said that the Israeli prime minister “wants to end the war”, adding that a deal to release the last of the Israeli hostages could be agreed next week. “We hope it’s going to happen. And we’re looking forward to it happening some time next week,” he told reporters as he left Washington DC for a day trip to Florida. “We want to get the hostages out.”

Last week, Trump said a deal would be reached this week.

Netanyahu has suggested that Israel’s recent attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites, which culminated in strikes by American B2 stealth bombers, could afford “opportunities” to release the hostages.

An Israeli official, Ron Dermer, has been in Washington this week holding talks in preparation for Netanyahu’s trip on Monday.

Palestinians seek food at one of the very small number of aid sites left in Gaza EBRAHIM HAJJAJ/REUTERS

Israeli media reported that indirect talks with Hamas could restart in the coming days, after the US put pressure on Qatar as a mediator. “We are more optimistic. There are solutions being put together, and more positive approach to moving forward,” an unnamed official told the broadcaster Channel 12.

Hamas has said it is willing to free remaining hostages in Gaza under any deal to end the war, but the group has refused to lay down its arms. Israel has said the conflict can end only if Hamas is disarmed and dismantled.

The Israeli military has stepped up its air strikes on Gaza and admitted that Palestinians were killed by “inaccurate and uncalculated” military fire while trying to access aid supplies.

More than 500 Palestinians have been killed and another 4,000 have been wounded while queueing for food in areas designated as distribution zones by the Israel Defence Forces, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Since a blockade on the territory was partially lifted in May, the IDF has denied that its soldiers shot at aid recipients, blaming the deaths on Hamas and local armed gangs.

An ambulance crew assist a man shot at an aid site in the north of Gaza BASHAR TALEB/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

However, on Monday it made a rare admission. “Following incidents in which harm to civilians who arrived at distribution facilities was reported, thorough examinations were conducted in the Southern Command and instructions were issued to forces in the field following lessons learnt,” a statement from the IDF said. Senior officers quoted in Israeli media suggested that 30 to 40 had been targeted.

The IDF did double down on its claim that any deaths at aid sites should be blamed on Hamas. On Tuesday, the military unit in charge of civilian affairs in Gaza, COGAT, released recordings purported to be of a Gazan resident accusing Hamas of firing at military-controlled aid distribution locations and fabricating the number of casualties.

Hamas “shoot the people deliberately because they treat those people like thieves, and they want to show the army is shooting at them,” a voice belonging to someone called a resident of Gaza said in Arabic that was translated by the army. An army officer replied: “So they’re the ones that shot today?” The resident said: “Of course. There’s no one else there who would shoot.”

Israel has backed a new aid mechanism to replace international humanitarian organisations, which have been distributing aid to the territory for decades, to prevent Hamas from stealing supplies. However, the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF), which has only four military-controlled locations where food can be collected — three in southwestern Gaza and one in central Gaza — has come under heavy criticism for failing to distribute food safely.

A man arriving at hospital after being shot at the aid site near Rafah ABED RAHIM KHATIB/GETTY IMAGES

• Head of Gaza aid group quits over plan to distribute food

An exposé in the Israeli left-leaning Haaretz newspaper last week took testimonies from unnamed soldiers who admitted to using live fire against hungry civilians. One soldier said that Palestinians were treated as a “hostile force” despite being unarmed, and were hit with heavy machineguns or mortars at close range.

The GHF said it was “not aware” of the incidents in the report. Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, accused Haaretz of publishing “malicious falsehoods” designed to defame “the most moral military in the world”. The army explained that the shelling had been intended to maintain order at the chaotic sites where thousands of Palestinians arrive in the early hours in the hope of receiving food. It said it had since shifted to “new methods”.

According to the IDF, access routes to the centres have been fenced with warning signs pointing out active military areas and established checkpoints. It was not clear how far the combat zones were from civilian centres.

The military has also closed the first aid distribution site in Tel al-Sultan, in Rafah, where much of Gaza’s displaced were once located, citing “lessons learnt”.

Most if not all of Rafah is under military occupation, and the designated route along the coast to the aid site is under full Israeli control. The site has been the location of heavy fire against civilians, including an incident in early June in which the Israeli military was filmed opening fire on crowds of Palestinians trying to breach a fenced enclosure to get food, killing about 30 people. At the time, Israel denied shooting, but it said later that warning shots had been fired from about 1km away.

The United Nations has warned that the aid sites are death traps for civilians. On Tuesday, more than 130 charities and other non-governmental organisations called for the GHF to be shut down. Oxfam, Save the Children and Amnesty, among others, said that Israeli forces and armed groups “routinely” opened fire on Palestinians seeking aid.