US President Donald Trump said on Friday he believes it is possible that a ceasefire in the Gaza conflict will be reached by this week.
At an Oval Office event celebrating a Congo-Rwanda accord, Trump told reporters that he believes a ceasefire is close, adding that he had just been talking to some people involved in trying to reach a ceasefire for the Israel-Hamas War.
His announcement came as US envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff is expected to head to Cairo in the coming days in a visit that will be “decisive” to try to reach a ceasefire and hostage deal in the Gaza Strip, sources told the Hezbollah-affiliated source Al-Akhbar in a report published on Saturday morning.
The push for a Gaza ceasefire
The sources added that Witkoff’s visit comes amid positive indications that there will be “notable progress in negotiations with a relative change in the tone of statements issued by Israel,” adding that the US envoy’s arrival in the Egyptian capital will push Israel to participate in negotiations.
The source then told Al-Akhbar that some Israeli officials “have already begun communicating with mediators to demonstrate flexibility on some points.”
Cairo also believes that with the end of escalation between Iran, Israel, and the US, Washington has positioned Gaza to be at the top of its priorities, and believes that Jerusalem is delaying its response to a deal “either due to internal disputes within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, or an attempt to use the time to increase pressure on Hamas by escalating field operations,” the report said.
Egyptian sources told the Saudi news source Al-Hadath that preparations are underway by the United States to hold a meeting on Gaza in Doha, Qatar, and that mediators were informed by them of their plans to present the end of the war in Gaza within days. The US is also pressuring Netanyahu to reach a long-term truce, the Egyptian sources added.
The sources also told Al-Hadath that the mediators demanded that the US has Israel allow a ceasefire in Gaza for two weeks. They also said that while Gaza negotiations will resume, a “final decision will be made in the second week of July.”
The Qatari Foreign Ministry also said Saturday that there is an opportunity to reach a ceasefire in Gaza.
The reports also came as rallies returned to Hostages Square for the first time in three weeks, with the previous two being canceled due to the threat of missiles from Iran.
The demonstrators urged that the momentum from the ceasefire in the war with Iran be used to end the war in Gaza with an agreement to bring all the hostages home.