Trump says that the “very close” Gaza agreement suggests that the ad could be imminent

US President Donald Trump said Friday mediators were “very close” to the damage of a cease-fire and hostage release agreement between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

“We will inform you during the day or maybe tomorrow, and we have a chance,” Trump told journalists at the Oval Office.

However, Hamas said that he was still examining a proposal from the United States, which he received on Thursday, while adding that the offer had not satisfied his requests. The group said he was taking consultations with other “Palestinian factions”, a term referring to other terrorist organizations operating under his reign in Gaza, such as the Palestinian Islamic jihad.

The American proposal stipulates that the sides must still agree on the parameters of the partial withdrawal of the Gaza IDF during the temporary break.

Familiar sources with negotiations have told Israel Times that Hamas was disappointed with the proposal, because it always gives Israel the opportunity to resume fighting at the end of the temporary break, such as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is committed to doing so.

Not wanting to be fixed as a party to blame for the dead end, Hamas leaning on to accept the proposal, while subjecting a series of reserves, said the two sources, in what will likely lead to talks for at least several more days.

While Netanyahu told families on Thursday that he was mainly favorable to the table agreement, he has not yet brought the cabinet to be approved, and several far -right members of his coalition have already clashed.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Friday that Hamas should accept the proposal presented by American envoy Steve Witkoff or be destroyed.

“The murderers of Hamas will now be forced to choose: accepting the terms of the Witkoff agreement for the release of hostages-or being annihilated,” he said.

Israel has repeatedly said that the destruction of the terrorist group was a key goal of war.

Negotiations to put an end to almost 20 months of war in Gaza have so far failed to make a breakthrough, Israel incorporating operations in March following a short -term truce. The conditions on the ground for Gaza civilians are disastrous, the United Nations warning that the whole population is at risk of famine.

Food shortages in Gaza have persisted, with aid that flows only after partial lifting by Israel of a blockade of more than two months. On Friday, Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the United Nations humanitarian agency, called Gaza “the most hungry place on earth”.

“This is the only defined area – a country or a territory defined in a country – where you have the whole population at risk of famine,” he said.

Later, the UN condemned the “looting of large quantities of medical equipment” and other supplies “intended for unhappy children” of one of its Gaza warehouses by armed individuals.

Help groups previously warned that despair of food and medicine in the Gazans caused a deterioration in security.

Qatar said on Friday that he was intensively engaged with the United States and Egypt “to stop the humanitarian disaster in Gaza and put an end to the war.”

The Gulf country’s ambassador to the United Nations Alya Ahmed Saif Al-Thani, told journalists to the UN: “Negotiations are continuing on the current proposal. We are very determined to find an end to this horrible situation in Gaza. ”

Throughout the war, Qatar was a key location for negotiations, and served as an intermediary for Hamas

According to A copy of Witkoff’s last proposalwhose authenticity was confirmed at the time of Israel by two sources familiar with negotiations, Hamas would release 10 Israeli hostages living in Gaza and would make the bodies of 18 hostages died during a cease-fire of 60 days.

In return, Israel would release 125 Palestinian terrorist convicts serving perpetuity sentences, 1,111 Gazans detained since the start of the war on October 7, 2023 and 180 Palestinian bodies currently held by Israel.

The FDIs would also withdraw from certain areas where troops are currently deployed; The decline parameters would be finalized “during local negotiations”.

Netanyahu told families of hostages Thursday at a meeting that he was ready to move forward with the proposal, reported the Axios news site, while Channel 12 reported that he had said to families he “Accept mainly” The document. However, the television report also quoted by saying that it was “Not ready to end the war Without eliminating Hamas.

Meanwhile, the right -wing ministers and certain Hawkish Otagères families came out in opposition to the proposed agreement, arguing that Hamas was weakened and that it was time to put pressure on the terrorist organization to go. A decision to accept the proposal should be approved by the Israeli cabinet.

The hostages held by terrorist groups in Gaza include 57 of the 251 kidnapped on October 7, 2023, and the body of a soldier owned by Hamas since 2014.

They include bodies of at least 35 dead confirmed by the FDI, and 20 are supposed to be alive. There are serious concerns for the well-being of three others, have said Israeli officials.

The agencies contributed to this report.