President Donald Trump told reporters at Join Air Force Base Andrews on Sunday after returning from the FIFA Club World Cup final that he hoped to have a ceasefire in Gaza within a week.
“Gaza, we are talking and hopefully we’re going to get that straightened out over the next week. Let’s see what happens,” he told reporters.
A senior Israeli official told Breitbart News last week that a 60-day Gaza ceasefire was imminent, and was likely to involve the release of ten of the 20 remaining living Israeli hostages. The Israeli government would still retain the goal of releasing the last ten, while also defeating Hamas and expelling its leaders from Gaza.
The Times of Israel noted:
While US and Israeli officials expressed optimism last week about the chances for an imminent agreement, negotiations have been stuck for the past four days over the scope of Israel’s military withdrawal from Gaza, an Arab diplomat and another source involved in mediation efforts told The Times of Israel.
Netanyahu, who met twice last week at the White House with Trump and his officials, has insisted the war cannot end until Hamas no longer has military or civil governance capabilities and Gaza can no longer pose a threat to Israel. He is vowing to achieve those goals and the return of all 50 hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be alive, still being held in the Strip.
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On Wednesday, Israel presented a scaled-down version of its withdrawal, but the proposal was rejected by Hamas, which told mediators that Netanyahu was using it to establish what he is calling a “humanitarian city” in the southern quarter of Gaza. Defense Minister Israel Katz has said Israel wants to eventually herd Gaza’s entire population there, vet them upon entry, and subsequently prevent them from leaving it, as Jerusalem encourages their emigration outside the enclave. The plan has drawn strong opposition both in Israel and internationally.
Hamas has rejected many ceasefire proposals, and Israel has said it will enter Gaza City, the last stronghold of the terror organization, even at risk to the remaining Israeli hostages, if Hamas does not agree to a deal.
Hamas could simply reject a deal to make Netanyahu face the painful choice, and political risk, of continuing a conflict that could risk the lives of the remaining hostages, who are the top priority for the Israeli public.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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