TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will soon be achieved, said U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday. "I think it's close," Trump said, as reported by Anadolu.
Trump made the surprising remarks when speaking to journalists in the Oval Office when asked how close his administration is to reaching an agreement on a ceasefire in Gaza.
"I just spoke with some of the people involved ... We think within the next week we're going to get a ceasefire," said Trump.
He added that a "terrible situation" is unfolding in Gaza.
A spokesperson for Trump's special envoy office, Steve Witkoff, said they had no information to share about the possibility of a breakthrough in the Gaza ceasefire.
Witkoff assisted aides of former U.S. President Joe Biden in mediating the ceasefire and prisoner release agreement in Gaza shortly before Trump took office in January. However, the ceasefire was violated by Israel in March when the country launched a wave of sudden bomb attacks across the region.
Nour Odeh from Al Jazeera, reporting from Amman, Jordan, said Trump's comments would be "welcome news" for the starving and bombed populations in Gaza. However, she also warned that "no negotiations at this moment happening anywhere in the region."
"What we do know is that talk of a ceasefire increased exponentially after the ceasefire between Israel and Iran. Israel does not want to talk about ending the war. In fact, the Israeli prime minister would be risking a lot if he did," Odeh said.
However, she added that, according to many reports, there is an understanding that Netanyahu must agree to a ceasefire in return for a normalization deal with Arab countries promoted by the Trump administration.
Hamas, on the other hand, consistently demands that Israel stop its war in Gaza and the Israeli military withdraw from the seized territory in Gaza after violating the last ceasefire in March.
"Hamas also wants U.S. guarantees that negotiations would continue and that Israel wouldn’t break the ceasefire again if more time was needed for negotiations," said Odeh.
Trump's ceasefire prediction comes amid increased killings by Israeli forces in Gaza and increased international condemnation of Israel's war. This comes amid Haaretz's recent revelation that the IDF admitted they were ordered to shoot unarmed Palestinian civilians seeking humanitarian aid near a GHF (U.S. and Israeli-supported aid distribution point) since the end of May.
Authorities in Gaza said Haaretz's reports that Israel's commanders ordered deliberate shootings of starving Palestinians are further evidence of Israel's "war crimes" in the war-torn region.
Although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz denied the reports of commanders targeting civilians, the Gaza Health Ministry reported that nearly 550 Palestinians have been killed near the GHF distribution point in Gaza since late May.
"People are being killed simply trying to feed themselves and their families," said United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday. "The search for food must never be a death sentence," he said.
Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) dubbed the situation in Gaza a "slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid."
Israeli officials said only military action would result in the return of captives held in Gaza. They imposed a blockade on food, water, medicines, and fuel entering the territory, causing widespread starvation among its 2.1 million inhabitants.
Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer is scheduled to visit Washington next week for discussions with Trump administration officials on Gaza, Iran, and the possibility of Netanyahu's White House visit, according to sources familiar with the matter.
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