President Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday that his “representatives” met with Israeli officials and discussed the idea of a potential 60-day Gaza ceasefire deal, a proposal that Hamas is unlikely to accept without an upfront commitment to a permanent truce.
The post came after Axios reported that US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Vice President JD Vance were expected to meet with Ron Dermer, Israel’s minister of strategic affairs and close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“My Representatives had a long and productive meeting with the Israelis today on Gaza. Israel has agreed to the necessary conditions to finalize the 60 Day CEASEFIRE, during which time we will work with all parties to end the War,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“The Qataris and Egyptians, who have worked very hard to help bring Peace, will deliver this final proposal. I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” he added.
Trump is expected to discuss the idea of a Gaza deal with Netanyahu when the Israeli leader visits the White House this coming Monday. So far, there’s no sign that he’s willing to leverage US military aid to force a deal.
According to the Axios report, Witkoff was set to brief Dermer on efforts to reach a 60-day truce during which Hamas would release 10 Israeli captives. Hamas’s long-standing offer has been that it will release all remaining hostages in exchange for a permanent ceasefire, but Israel has rejected the idea.
A Hamas official said earlier this week that Netanyahu doesn’t want a deal because he is putting forward “impossible conditions” and is insisting on selecting the names of 10 Israeli hostages to be released instead of all of them. The Axios report said that the main impasse between the two sides is Hamas’s demand for a clear guarantee from the US that the deal would lead to a permanent end to the genocidal war.
A senior Israeli official told Axios that Israel is willing to adjust some of the deal’s language to make it more acceptable to Hamas, but won’t agree to an upfront commitment to a permanent truce. The idea of the previous ceasefire deal that was signed in January was for the two sides to negotiate a permanent settlement during the first phase of the truce, but Israel never entered those talks and unilaterally ended the ceasefire.
Israel has been escalating its assault on Gaza and is prepared to ramp things up even more. An Israeli official told Axios that Gaza would be turned into “dust” if the negotiations on a temporary truce don’t advance. “We’ll do to Gaza City and the central camps what we did to Rafah. Everything will turn to dust,” the official said.
