Trump says Israel has agreed terms to a 60-day ceasefire and urges Hamas to do the same

LAST UPDATE | 6 hrs ago

ISRAEL’S FOREIGN MINISTER has said the country should not miss any chance to free hostages held in Gaza, after US President Donald Trump urged Hamas to agree to a 60-day ceasefire that he said had Israel’s backing.

Israel’s campaign continued to rage on yesterday, with Gaza’s civil defence agency reporting that Israeli forces killed at least 26 people. It came as the Israeli military launched deadly strikes in all of Gaza yesterday.

The civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed at least 14 people today.

Yesterday, Trump urged Hamas to accept the ceasefire, saying that Israel had agreed to finalise such a deal.

Without directly mentioning Trump’s remarks, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said today that “a large majority within the government and the population is in favour of the plan to free the hostages.”

“If the opportunity arises, it must not be missed!” Saar wrote on X.

In Gaza, the Red Cross has warned that the territory’s remaining medical facilities are overwhelmed, with nearly all public hospitals “shut down or gutted by months of hostilities and restrictions” on supplies.

Posting to social media, Trump claimed Israel had agreed to the conditions of a 60-day ceasefire. He said lead negotiators in the mediation, Qatar and Egypt, would deliver the final proposal to both sides.

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Trump warned that if Hamas did not accept the deal, “it will only get worse”. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is travelling to Washington DC on Monday, one place where he will not be arrested under an International Criminal Court warrant because the US does not recognise the court. 

It is believed Trump is seeking to reach a deal regarding a ceasefire before Netanyahu’s arrival.

Gaza’s civil defence service said 16 people were killed at aid distribution sites yesterday, a nearly-daily occurrence that sees attacks on Palestinians seeking food. Ten other people were killed in separate Israeli attacks.

A group of 169 aid organisations called this week for an end to Gaza’s “deadly” new US and Israeli-backed aid distribution scheme, which they said is leading to civilian deaths.

They urged a return to the UN-led aid mechanism that existed until March, when Israel imposed a full, tw0-month blockade on humanitarian assistance entering Gaza.

The new scheme’s administrator, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), has attempted to distance itself from reports of aid seekers being killed near its centres.

- © AFP 2025, with reporting by Muiris Ó Cearbhaill

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