‘Make the deal’: Trump pushes for Gaza ceasefire as residents told to leave again

Some Palestinians greeted the possibility of a new truce with scepticism, having watched the last ceasefire shatter.

“Since the beginning of the war, they have been promising us something like this: release the hostages, and we will stop the war,” Abdel Hadi Al-Hour said. “They did not stop the war.”

New Gaza evacuations ordered

The new evacuation orders in northern Gaza cover neighbourhoods in eastern and northern Gaza City, as well as the Jabaliya refugee camp.

Northern Gaza is home to hundreds of thousands of people who returned during the ceasefire earlier this year.

An Israeli military offensive aims to move Palestinians to southern Gaza, so forces can more freely operate to combat militants. Rights groups say their movement would amount to forcible displacement.

Colonel Avichay Adraee, a military spokesperson, posted the order on social media and said the military would expand its escalating attacks westward to the city’s centre, calling for people to move towards the Muwasi area in southern Gaza.

Major sticking point

Talks between Israel and Hamas have repeatedly faltered over a major sticking point – whether the war should end as part of any ceasefire agreement.

Hamas official Mahmoud Merdawi accused Netanyahu of stalling progress on a deal, saying on social media that the Israeli leader insisted on a temporary agreement that would free just 10 of the hostages. About 50 hostages remain, with less than half believed to be alive.

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Netanyahu spokesperson Omer Dostri said that “Hamas was the only obstacle to ending the war”, without addressing Merdawi’s claim.

During a visit on Sunday to Israel’s internal security service, Shin Bet, Netanyahu said the Israel-Iran war and subsequent ceasefire had opened many opportunities: “First of all, to rescue the hostages. Of course, we will also have to solve the Gaza issue, to defeat Hamas, but I estimate that we will achieve both tasks.”

Hamas says it is willing to free all the hostages in exchange for a full withdrawal of Israeli troops and an end to the war in Gaza. Israel rejects that offer, saying it will agree to end the war if Hamas surrenders, disarms and goes into exile, something the group refuses.

The war in Gaza began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which militants killed 1200 people and took about 250 hostages. Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between militants and civilians in its count, puts the war’s toll among Palestinians at 56,500.

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Meanwhile, in the West Bank, Israeli settlers set fires, vandalised military vehicles, sprayed graffiti and attacked soldiers at a military base just north of Ramallah, the military said.

Sunday night’s unrest came after several attacks in the West Bank carried out by settlers and anger at their arrests by security forces attempting to contain the violence over the past few days.

More than 100 settlers on Wednesday evening entered the West Bank town of Kfar Malik, setting property ablaze and opening fire on Palestinians who tried to stop them, Najeb Rostom, head of the local council, said. Three Palestinians were killed after the military intervened. Israeli security forces arrested five settlers.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz vowed on Monday to “eradicate this violence from the root”, and implored the extremist settlers to remember that many of the security forces were exhausted reservists serving multiple rounds of duty.

AP

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