CNN
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US President Donald Trump said a ceasefire contract in Gaza could be agreed next week after Hamas announced that he had “submitted a positive response” to his 60-day truce proposal with Israel.
“We have to get through that,” Trump said Friday. “We have to do something about Gaza.”
Israel and Hamas have long had conflicting demands that negotiators cannot bridge, but both agree to the revised proposal, and it appears that the agreement will be within scope for the first time in a few months.
The new effort has gathered post-ceasefire steam between Iran and Israel, but reflects our pressure and changing Israeli war goals. Here’s what you need to know.
Since the ceasefire between Israel and Iran on June 24, mediators Qatar and Egypt, as well as the United States, have doubled their calls for a new Gaza ceasefire. A Qatar Foreign Ministry spokesman told CNN that the Israeli-Iran agreement created “momentum” for the latest talks between Israel and Hamas.
The Netanyahu government faces international criticism of the suffering that the Palestinians in Gaza are being subjected to.
Israel imposed a comprehensive lockdown on humanitarian delivery in March. The lockdown was somewhat eased in May after a global expert chorus warned that hundreds of thousands were soon hungry.
Hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza have been recently killed by an Israeli strike. And the distribution of aid has been undermined by violence, killing hundreds of people on their way to get food from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a controversial US aid aid initiative that began operating at the end of May.
Pressure is also growing from within Israel on Netanyahu.
His government is supported by far-right figures who want to escalate the fighting in Gaza, but opposition leader Yair Lapid said Wednesday that he has joined the coalition government to enable hostage trade. Polls have repeatedly shown that the majority of the country wants a contract to bring hostages home, even if it means ending the war.
What is Israel’s demand?
In addition to his purpose of bringing hostages into the house, Netanyahu was not shaking from his greatest purpose: disarmament in Gaza and the destruction of Hamas’ military and governance capabilities.
However, last weekend, the Prime Minister brought about a rhetorical change by laying out Israeli goals. The return of hostages was the first priority before what was once called “the most objective” of defeating Hamas.
Netanyahu said “many opportunities have been opened” following Israeli military operations in Iran. “First, to save the hostages,” he said. “Of course we need to solve the Gaza problem and defeat Hamas, but I think we’ll complete both missions.”
Comments were welcomed by hostage families held in Gaza. Gaza criticized him for not releasing what was ionized as Israel’s main target. Rather than being released under trances, only a few hostages have been rescued in military operations.
This week’s Israeli forces recommended pursuing a diplomatic path in Gaza after nearly two years of fighting and the removal of many of Hamas’ senior leaders.
On Tuesday, military officials told CNN that Israel has not fully achieved all war goals, but as Hamas’ troops have been shrinking and becoming more and more susceptible, it has made it even more difficult to effectively target the rest of the militant group. “It’s hard to achieve tactical goals now,” the official said.
Hamas announced on Friday that “the movement is fully prepared to submit a positive response to mediators and to quickly enter negotiations on mechanisms to implement this framework.”
There are three main demands for extremist groups: The enduring end of the battle, the UN’s humanitarian aid provided by the UN, and the renewed attacks and occupying the northern part of the strip before Israel retreated to its position held on March 2 this year.
A Hamas official told CNN in late May that the group was “prepared to return hostages in one day. There’s a need for assurance that war will not come again afterwards.” Hostages were Hamas’ important leverage in negotiations, with extremist groups refusing to agree to release without a path to end the conflict.
In response to a previous Trump administration-backed ceasefire proposal in May, Hamas asked us to assure us that permanent ceasefire negotiations would continue and that combat would not resume after a 60-day suspension.
Whether a ceasefire is temporary or a path to a permanent ceasefire is the biggest sticking point between the parties fighting.
Israel wants to eradicate Hamas following the October 7 attack, but the group has shown little willingness to abandon political and military power in Gaza.
Group officials issued contradictory statements about Hamas’ role in postwar Gaza. Hazem Qassem, a spokesman for the group, said the group doesn’t need to be part of the arrangement “in the next phase.”
Details of the proposal have not yet been made public, but it is clear that the revised plan is an attempt to fill some of the differences between Israel and Hamas.
A source familiar with the negotiations said the latest proposal timeline calls for the release of 10 living Israeli hostages and 18 dead hostages over 60 days of 10 days.
According to the Israeli government, of the 50 hostages still in Gaza, at least 20 are believed to be alive.
On the first day of the truce, similar to the previous ceasefire, Hamas released eight living hostages. In exchange, Israel released an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees and withdraws its forces from ready-made locations in northern Gaza.
Israel and Hamas will also enter into negotiations for a permanent ceasefire soon after the first ceasefire is implemented, sources said.
Under this contract, hostages will be released without a ceremony or fanfare, in response to Israel’s request. This is different from when Hamas staged a public promotion event on the relocation of hostages that sparked rage in Israel.
Humanitarian aid will soon begin flowing into Gaza at the start of a ceasefire that includes the United Nations and other aid organizations, similar to the previous ceasefire that began on January 19th.
This leaves the US-backed fate of GHF and its role in Gaza unknown.
The US and mediators are offering stronger assurances about reaching a settlement to end the war in Gaza as part of the updated proposal, Israeli officials told CNN. Officials did not provide a specific language for the document, but said the language was stronger than previous guarantees.
Both sides accepted the proposal, but more consultations must be held before the ceasefire begins.
In these proximity consultations, which are likely to take place in Doha and Cairo, negotiators went back and forth between the two sides and presented final details of the contract.
Sources say one important issue to resolve during close consultations is the timeline and location of Israeli forces’ withdrawal in Gaza during a 60-day ceasefire.
In the 21-month war between Israel and Hamas, the ceasefire is only in place for a total of nine weeks.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, more than 57,000 children have been killed in Gaza during the battle.
The first ceasefire came into effect in November 2023, but lasted only a week. Meanwhile, 105 hostages were released from Gaza in exchange for the Palestinian prisoner scores.
The second ceasefire was not hit until January 2025 just before Trump returned to the White House. In the first “stage” of the ceasefire, more than eight weeks, Hamas released 33 hostages, and Israel released about 50 Palestinian prisoners for all that the Israelites were released.
In the second phase planned, Israel was to agree to a permanent ceasefire. However, Israel said it had resumed its attack on March 18, crushing the ceasefire, derailing consultations and putting pressure on Hamas to release the remaining hostages.
CNN’s Jeremy Diamond, Kristen Holmes, Kylie Atwood, Dana Karni, Michael Schwartz and Orenly Berman contributed to this report.