Middle East Diplomacy: Trump hopes for Gaza deal this week

US President Donald Trump is hoping for a Gaza deal this week. “I think we are about to get to Gaza. We could make it this week,” said the Republican to journalists on Sunday (local time). According to media reports, he now meets Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House. It is already the third meeting between the two narrow allies in six months.

Shortly before his departure to Washington, Netanyahu had described the Islamist Hamas demands as a “unacceptable” after changes to the latest proposal in Katar for a deal, but still sent a delegation to new indirect discussions about a deal in the Qatarian capital. The USA acts together with Qatar and Egypt as an intermediary between Israel and Hamas, as they do not talk directly to each other.

Before his conversation with Netanyahu, Trump confidently commented on the release of further hostages with Hamas. “We think we can do it this week,” said Trump. According to media reports, the latest proposal for a deal provides for the release of initially ten living hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. According to the Israeli state of knowledge, at least 20 hostages are still alive. The status of two kidnapping victims is unclear. In addition, there are still the corpses of 28 deported people in Gaza.

The war was triggered by the attack by Hamas and other Islamist terrorist organizations to Israel on October 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 deported to Gaza as hostages. Since then, according to the health authority controlled by the Hamas, more than 57,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed. The number that is barely verifiable does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.