A ceasefire in Gaza may take effect within the next week: Trump

US President Donald Trump has said that a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza could happen within the next week. He shared this information with journalists at a ceremony in the Oval Office on Friday celebrating a Congo-Rwanda agreement. Previously, two ceasefires in Gaza had failed to hold. Under Israel’s blockade, nearly all residents of the enclave are living in extreme hardship.On Saturday, Reuters reported that President Trump had spoken with several individuals working to convince Israel and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire. After those conversations, he said he believed a ceasefire would happen very soon. Hamas has said it is willing to release the remaining hostages as part of any agreement to end the war. Meanwhile, Israel has insisted that the war will only stop when Hamas is disarmed and dismantled—something Hamas refuses to do.The war began after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, with Israel claiming that 1,200 Israelis were killed in the assault and over 250 people were taken hostage. Israel then launched unprecedented attacks on Gaza, destroying more than 80% of the enclave’s infrastructure and displacing nearly the entire population. A severe food crisis has developed. Recently, Israel has begun using aid as a weapon, resulting in mass killings in Palestine.President Donald Trump said, “I think a ceasefire is going to happen very soon. I just spoke with several people involved. We think we will have a ceasefire within the next week.” However, Trump did not disclose whom he had spoken with. During the Iran-Israel conflict, he had previously told reporters he was speaking almost daily with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.The office of US Special Envoy for Middle East Affairs, Steve Witkoff, did not provide further details, saying they had no additional information beyond Trump’s comments. Earlier, in January, before Trump took office, former US President Joe Biden’s administration had managed to broker a peace deal between Israel and Hamas, but it did not last long.Regarding the possible ceasefire in Gaza, Al Jazeera analyst Chris Doyle commented, “Unfortunately, we still have a long way to go before reaching a ceasefire.” Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, added, “How exactly does the US president plan to get Israel to agree to a ceasefire? Putting pressure on Hamas alone won’t be enough.”