President Trump said Friday he believes a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas is possible “within the next week.”
“I think it’s close,” Mr. Trump told reporters when asked about the prospect of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. “We think within the next week, we’re going to get a ceasefire.”
The Trump administration has pushed for a pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas for weeks, but a deal has proven elusive so far. Israel and Hamas have not publicly commented on whether a deal is possible soon.
Late last month, Mr. Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff proposed a 60-day ceasefire. Under that proposal, Hamas would release 10 living hostages and the remains of 18 dead hostages who were taken to Gaza during Hamas’ 2023 attack on Israel, according to a copy obtained by CBS News. Israel would release 125 “life sentence” prisoners, 1,111 Palestinian detainees and 180 deceased Palestinians as part of the deal.
Israel supported that proposal, but Hamas said it responded with “some notes and amendments.” Witkoff called Hamas’ response “totally unacceptable” in a May 31 post on X.
The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel, killing approximately 1,200 people and abducting about 250 hostages, many of whom have since been released. Israel responded with an invasion and intense aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip, killing over 56,000 people, according to figures from the territory’s Hamas-run Health Ministry.
Hassan Jedi/Anadolu via Getty Images 
Israel and Hamas have struck two ceasefire and hostage release deals since October 2023, the most recent of which — a 60-day pause in hostilities — ended in mid-March. Since then, the fighting has resumed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced pressure from the families of some hostages to cut a deal to secure their release, but the Israeli leader said last month there is “no way” the war will end until Hamas is defeated, though he left open the possibility of a temporary truce to secure the release of more hostages.
Separately, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S.- and Israel-backed private aid group, began distributing food in the Gaza Strip earlier this month. But the group has been mired in controversy, with frequent reports of people shot by Israeli troops near distribution sites, leading the head of the United Nations’ Palestinian refugee agency to call it a “death trap.” The group has defended its efforts.
Mr. Trump promoted the aid efforts Friday, saying, “we have a pretty good system now.”
Meanwhile, an unrelated ceasefire between Israel and Iran that began Tuesday appears to be holding, ending more than a week of fighting between the two archrivals.
