Israel is close to accomplishing its current objectives in Gaza, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

The claim comes amid reports that ceasefire prospects between Israel and Hamas are improving, again raising hopes that the 20-month conflict could come to an end.

The White House is putting increasing pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, to bring an end to the war, which began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct 7 2023.

Also suggesting an end is in sight, Qatar, which has mediated ceasefire talks, urged Israel and Hamas to take the “window of opportunity” for a new hostage deal in the wake of the end of Israel’s 12-day war with Iran.

Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, the IDF chief of staff, said on Friday that Israel’s operation would soon “reach the lines” defined by the government, which would see the military assert control over 75 per cent of Gaza territory.

“In the near future, we will reach the lines we defined for the current phase within the framework of Gideon’s Chariots,” Mr Zamir said during a visit to the Gaza Strip.

The IDF’s operational plans for Gideon’s Chariots, reported by The Times of Israel, had indicated that it would take two months to capture 75 per cent of Gaza.

Now the government will need to decide if it pushes for full control or ends the operation, analysts have said, with the options expected to be put to the cabinet on Sunday.

“From there, operational options will develop that will be presented to the political echelon,” said Mr Zamir, adding that the IDF “will continue to act with determination to achieve the two objectives of the campaign, the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas.”

Mr Netanyahu has so far said only that Israel would carry on in its attacks until it had completely destroyed Hamas, and Right-wing members of his coalition – upon whom he relies in order to govern – have called for him to seize full control of the Strip.

However, Donald Trump, the US president, is pushing Israel to conclude its offensive following what he has deemed a successful 12-day war against Iran.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Mr Trump suggested that a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal would be reached “within the next week”, having said earlier in the week that “great progress” had been made in ceasefire talks.

Mr Netanyahu may calculate that he must keep Mr Trump onside and therefore work towards a deal, secure the release of the remaining Gaza hostages, and call an election in an attempt to capitalise on a bump in popularity in the wake of the war with Iran.

Mr Zamir also said of Israel’s war with Iran: “Iran took a heavy blow. There is potential that the blow caused to Iran will advance our goals in Gaza,” he said.

Gaza mediators are engaging with Israel and Hamas to build on momentum from the ceasefire with Iran and work towards a truce in the Palestinian territory, Majed al-Ansari, a Qatar foreign ministry spokesman, said.

“If we don’t utilise this window of opportunity and this momentum, it’s an opportunity lost among many in the near past. We don’t want to see that again,” said Mr Ansari, who is also an adviser to Qatar’s prime minister.

An official with knowledge of the situation said that Ron Dermer, the Israeli minister for strategic affairs, would arrive in Washington next week for talks on a Gaza ceasefire, Iran and other subjects.

Mr Zamir’s comments came the day before Israeli strikes killed at least 62 people across Gaza, according to reports from inside the Hamas-run territory.

Three children and their parents were killed in an Israeli strike on a tent camp in Muwasi near the southern city of Khan Younis. They were struck while sleeping, relatives said.

“What did these children do to them? What is their fault?” said Suad Abu Teima, the children’s grandmother, as reported by the Associated Press.

Also among the dead were 12 people near the Palestine Stadium in Gaza City, which was sheltering displaced people, and eight more in apartments, according to staff at Shifa hospital. More than 20 bodies were taken to Nasser hospital, according to health officials.

The war has killed over 56,000 Palestinians, according to the health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. It said more than half of the dead were women and children, and that they included 6,089 people killed since the end of the latest ceasefire.

Hamas massacred more than 1,200 Israelis, and took 254 hostages inside Gaza. About 50 remain in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive.

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Netanyahu says there are ‘broad regional possibilities’ as Trump urges ceasefire in Gaza

US President Donald Trump on Sunday urged progress in ceasefire talks in the 20-month war in Gaza, as Israel and Hamas appeared to move closer to an agreement.

In turn, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said there were “broad regional possibilities” following the announcement of a recent ceasefire between Israel and Iran.

“We will also have to solve the Gaza issue, to defeat Hamas,” said Netanyahu.

A top adviser to Netanyahu is reportedly set to travel to Washington in the coming days to discuss a ceasefire. Trump has urged a deal “within the next week” to end the war and free remaining hostages.

Plans are also set to be made for Netanyahu to visit, a sign there may be movement on a deal. However, these plans have not yet been finalised.

Palestinians in Gaza are greeting the possibility with scepticism, hardened by months of shattered promises and ongoing suffering.

“Since the beginning of the war, they have been promising us something like this: release the hostages and we will stop the war,” said Abdel Hadi Al-Hour, a man displaced from Deir al-Balah.

“They did not stop the war. We actually released the hostages and the war started again. We are tired of displacement, suffering, hunger, poverty.“

Inside the crowded camps across the strip, patience has long worn thin.

“Today we have been waging a war for more than two years, and we hear about a truce, the war is over, a ceasefire, there is a deal. Even when the deal was made, we returned to war again. We do not want words, we want action,” said another displaced man, Karam Abu Mueliq.

This is a dream for us, for the people of Gaza,” said Mahmoud Wadi, a man displaced from northern Gaza. “We are exhausted, we are tired. We hope to God that the war will end. This is a dream.”

“The most important thing is for the war to end, for the famine to stop, for the bloodshed to stop,” Wadi added.

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Trump Calls for Israel-Hamas Ceasefire

A view of destruction in Gaza as Israel’s military campaign continues on June 29, 2025.

After brokering a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran, Donald Trump is urging Israel and Hamas to make a deal that would stop the 20-month-long war in Gaza that has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians and over a thousand Israelis.

“MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!” the U.S. President posted on Truth Social early Sunday.

Trump told reporters on Friday that an agreement could be reached within the next week. On Saturday evening Trump said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “right now in the process of negotiating a Deal with Hamas, which will include getting the Hostages back,” in a post slamming the corruption proceedings against Netanyahu. An Israeli court on Monday postponed this week’s hearings in Netanyahu’s trial after he made a request based on classified diplomatic and security reasons.

“How is it possible that the Prime Minister of Israel can be forced to sit in a Courtroom all day long, over NOTHING (Cigars, Bugs Bunny Doll, etc.). It is a POLITICAL WITCH HUNT, very similar to the Witch Hunt that I was forced to endure,” Trump wrote. “This travesty of ‘Justice’ will interfere with both Iran and Hamas negotiations.”

An Israeli official told the Associated Press that Ron Dermer, a top adviser to Netanyahu, will visit Washington this week for ceasefire talks. Netanyahu met with his security Cabinet on Sunday evening and plans are being made for him to visit Washington in coming weeks, the official said.

Trump’s shift in focus towards Gaza comes after Iran and Israel agreed to a tenuous ceasefire on June 23, ending the so-called “12 Day War” ignited by Israel’s attack on Iran’s nuclear program. Arab mediators, Egypt and Qatar, renewed a ceasefire push for Gaza after the U.S. and Israel bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities. Hamas has told mediators that it is ready to resume talks but reiterated that any deal must include an end to the war and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, a Hamas official told Reuters.

Call for ceasefire comes as Israel escalates war

At the same time that Trump called for a deal, Israel continued to escalate its military bombardment of Gaza. The Israeli military ordered a mass evacuation of Palestinians in northern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people live in eastern and northern Gaza City and the Jabaliya refugee camp. The Israeli Defense Forces’ attacks will expand westward to Gaza City center, the order said. People are ordered to evacuate to Mawasi in southern Gaza, which Israel has designated as a humanitarian area.

Uprooting their lives at a moment’s notice has become routine for Palestinians in Gaza over the last nearly two years of war. Humanitarian organizations have criticized Israel’s sweeping evacuation orders in the past as being unpredictable and having short deadlines that are virtually impossible for many, including the sick and disabled. On Sunday, Palestinians in Gaza City were yet again forced to load their children and essentials onto donkey carts before the military’s attacks, the AP reported. United Nations officials have said that nowhere in Gaza is safe. At least five people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a tent encampment in Khan Younis near Mawasi, the designated safe area, over the weekend, medics said.

“A month ago, they told us to go to Al-Mawasi and we stayed there for a month, it is a safe zone,” Palestinian Zeyad Abu Marouf told Reuters. Three of his children were killed and a fourth wounded in the airstrike, he said.

“Families have been displaced again and again—and are now confined to less than one-fifth of Gaza’s land,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said on Friday. “Even these shrinking spaces are under threat. Bombs are falling—on tents, on families, on those with nowhere left to run.”

Roadblocks remain over a deal

In spite of Trump’s optimism, skepticism over a deal remains.

Hamas has accused Israeli leaders of purposely delaying a deal. Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi reportedly said on Telegram on Sunday that Netanyahu set “impossible conditions aimed at thwarting the possibility of reaching a ceasefire agreement and a deal on the hostages.”

Hamas has reportedly offered Israel a deal that includes the release of all hostages in exchange for a full withdrawal of Israel’s military from Gaza and an end to the war. But Mardawi said Netanyahu has insisted on a temporary agreement that releases only 10 hostages. “Netanyahu lies when he claims he is not involved in choosing the names of the hostages,” Mardawi wrote. “He does not want a deal.”

Netanyahu spokesperson Omer Dostri did not address Mardawi’s claims but said, “Hamas was the only obstacle to ending the war,” according to the AP. Israel has said it will only agree to end the war in exchange for the full dismantlement and exile of Hamas.

While Trump has repeatedly urged a ceasefire in Gaza, he’s also suggested a U.S. takeover that turns the territory into “a freedom zone” and proposed that Jordan and Egypt take in Palestinians as part of a “clean out” of the Gaza Strip.

In February, Trump said the U.S. could take a “long-term ownership position” over Gaza, “level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area.” That month, he also shared an AI-generated video on Truth Social of “Trump Gaza,” showing a reconstructed Gaza Strip with skyscrapers, luxury cars, and Trump drinking by a pool with Netanyahu.

Even if a deal is reached, it’s unclear whether it will last. Israel and Hamas reached a multi-phase ceasefire agreement in January, just as Trump was taking office. But Israel broke the ceasefire in March when it launched surprise airstrikes on Gaza before declaring that it was resuming the war.

Since then, pressure has been mounting on Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire, both from within and outside Israel. Pro-Palestinian protesters around the world turned out over the weekend to call for an end to the war. And earlier this month, the U.N. adopted a resolution demanding an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire, with Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya saying that it is the international community’s responsibility to stop the “slaughter” in Gaza.

Protests in Israel also resumed after a two-week pause during the Israel-Iran war, with demonstrators demanding a deal that would free the hostages still in Gaza. “There’s a deal on the table and what prevents it is Netanyahu's refusal to end the war,” said Einav Zangauker, the mother of one of the hostages, at the rally.

Earlier this month, former Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Barak wrote in a TIME essay calling for Netanyahu to back a Trump-brokered ceasefire: “In the coming few days, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will face a defining choice between a politically motivated ‘war of deception’ in Gaza and a deal to release all hostages while ending the war. He must choose between his extreme-right ministers—Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich—or aligning with Donald Trump.”

Netanyahu said at the Sunday security meeting that “many opportunities have opened up” after Israel’s “victory” in Iran, and for one of the first times he appeared to prioritize hostage exchange over the defeat of Hamas, potentially signaling appetite for a ceasefire deal: “Firstly, to rescue the hostages,” he said. “Of course, we will also need to solve the Gaza issue, defeat Hamas, but I believe we will achieve both tasks.”

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Israel orders evacuations in northern Gaza as Trump calls for war to end

The Israeli military ordered Palestinians to evacuate areas in northern Gaza on Sunday before intensified fighting against Hamas, as U.S. President Donald Trump called for an end to the war amid renewed efforts to broker a ceasefire.

"Make the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform early on Sunday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to hold talks later in the day on the progress of Israel's offensive. A senior security official said the military will tell him the campaign is close to reaching its objectives, and warn that expanding fighting to new areas in Gaza may endanger the remaining Israeli hostages.

But in a statement posted on X and text messages sent to many residents, the military urged people in northern parts of the enclave to head south towards the Al-Mawasi area in Khan Younis, which Israel designated as a humanitarian area. Palestinian and U.N. officials say nowhere in Gaza is safe.

"The (Israeli) Defense Forces is operating with extreme force in these areas, and these military operations will escalate, intensify, and extend westward to the city center to destroy the capabilities of terrorist organizations," the military said.

The evacuation order covered the Jabalia area and most Gaza City districts. Medics and residents said the Israeli army's bombardments escalated in the early hours in Jabalia, destroying several houses and killing at least six people.

In Khan Younis in the south, five people were killed in an airstrike on a tent encampment near Mawasi, medics said. At least 12 other people were killed in separate Israeli military strikes and gunfire across the enclave, taking Sunday's death toll to at least 23, medics said.

At Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, relatives arrived to pay their respects to white-shrouded bodies before they are buried.

"A month ago, they (Israel) told us to go to Al-Mawasi (in Khan Younis) and we stayed there for a month, it is a safe zone," said Zeyad Abu Marouf. He said three of his children were killed and a fourth was wounded in the Israeli airstrike.

"We ask God and the Arabs to move and end this occupation and the injustice taking place against us,” Abu Marouf told Reuters.

NEW CEASEFIRE PUSH

The military escalation comes as Arab mediators, Egypt and Qatar, backed by the United States, begin a new ceasefire effort to halt the 20-month-old conflict and secure the release of Israeli and foreign hostages still being held by Hamas.

Interest in resolving the Gaza conflict has heightened following U.S. and Israeli bombings of Iran's nuclear facilities.

There has also been rising concern over how aid is being distributed to Gazans in the ruined enclave. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed over the past month in the vicinity of areas where food was being handed out, local hospitals and officials have said.

A Hamas official told Reuters the group had informed the mediators it was ready to resume ceasefire talks, but reaffirmed the group's outstanding demands that any deal must end the war and secure an Israeli withdrawal from the coastal territory.

Hamas has said it is willing to free remaining hostages in Gaza, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive, only in a deal that will end the war. Israel says it can only end the war if Hamas is disarmed and dismantled. Hamas refuses to lay down its arms.

The war began after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's subsequent military assault has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry, displaced almost the entire 2.3 million population and plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis.