Trump urges 60-day Gaza ceasefire deal ahead of Netanyahu visit
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks prior to signing “phase one” of the U.S.-China trade agreement in the East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., January 15, 2020. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
WASHINGTON, United States — US President Donald Trump urged Hamas on Tuesday to accept a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, saying that Israel had agreed to finalize such a deal, as its forces also stepped up operations in the Palestinian territory.
Trump, in a post on social media, said his representatives had met with Israeli officials about the raging conflict, ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington next week.
“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,” Trump wrote.
He said representatives of Qatar and Egypt, mediators in the conflict, would deliver “this final proposal.”
“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,” he added.
Trump earlier on Tuesday said he would be “very firm” with Netanyahu when they meet on July 7.
READ: Israel expands Gaza campaign ahead of Netanyahu’s US visit
The end of Israel’s 12-day war with Iran — which followed a US bombing mission on Tehran’s nuclear sites — has provided a window of opportunity for a deal, with Trump keen to add another peace agreement to a series of recent deals he has brokered.
Israel’s campaign, meanwhile, continued to rage on, with Gaza’s civil defense agency reporting Israeli forces killed at least 26 people on Tuesday.
In response to reports of deadly strikes in the north and south of the territory, the Israeli army told AFP it was “operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities.”
Separately, it said Tuesday morning that in recent days it had “expanded its operations to additional areas within the Gaza Strip, eliminating dozens of terrorists and dismantling hundreds of terror infrastructure sites both above and below ground.”
Raafat Halles, 39, from the Shujaiya district of Gaza City, said “air strikes and shelling have intensified over the past week,” and tanks have been advancing.
“I believe that every time negotiations or a potential ceasefire are mentioned, the army escalates crimes and massacres on the ground,” he said. “I don’t know why.”
AFP photographers saw Israeli tanks deploying at the Gaza border in southern Israel and children picking through the rubble of a destroyed home in Gaza City.
Others photographed Palestinians mourning over the bodies of relatives in the city’s Al-Shifa hospital and the Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza.
Aid seekers killed
The Red Cross warned that Gaza’s few functioning medical facilities were overwhelmed, with nearly all public hospitals “shut down or gutted by months of hostilities and restrictions” on supplies.
“The International Committee of the Red Cross is deeply alarmed by the intensifying hostilities in Gaza City and Jabaliya, which have reportedly caused dozens of deaths and injuries among civilians over the past 36 hours,” the ICRC said in a statement.
Gaza’s civil defense service said 16 people were killed near aid distribution sites in central and southern Gaza on Tuesday, in the latest in a spate of deadly attacks on those seeking food, with 10 others killed in other Israeli operations.
Commenting on the incidents, the Israeli military told AFP its forces “fired warning shots to distance suspects who approached the troops”, adding it was not aware of any injuries but would review the incidents.
Referring to an incident in Rafah, it said the shots were fired “hundreds of meters (yards) away from the aid distribution site”, which was “not operating.”
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by rescuers.
Aid reform call
A group of 169 aid organizations called Monday for an end to Gaza’s “deadly” new US- and Israeli-backed aid distribution scheme, which they said was leading to civilian deaths.
They urged a return to the UN-led aid mechanism that existed until March, when Israel imposed a full blockade on humanitarian assistance entering Gaza during an impasse in truce talks with Hamas.
The new scheme’s administrator, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), has distanced itself from reports of aid seekers being killed near its centers.
Netanyahu’s US visit
Netanyahu announced he would visit Trump and senior US security officials next week, amid mounting pressure to end the devastating fighting in Gaza and bring the remaining hostages home.
Trump, while visiting a migrant detention center in Florida, said Netanyahu “wants to end it too.”
Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told AFP the group is “ready to agree to any proposal if it will lead to an end to the war and a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal of occupation forces.”
“So far, there has been no breakthrough.”
