• Israeli strikes across Gaza claim 112 lives in 24 hours
• Hamas says US pressure essential as Israeli officials to hold ceasefire talks in Washington
• Over 170 charities call for end to Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s ‘deadly’ aid distribution system

WASHINGTON: The United States is pushing for a truce in Gaza by “sometime next week”, US President Donald Trump said Tuesday.

The Republican leader was asked by reporters if a ceasefire by Israel in its devastating war on Palestinians could be in place before a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House, set for July 7.

Trump said he is hopeful that a ‘ceasefire-for-prisoners’ agreement can be achieved soon.

“We hope it’s going to happen, and we’re looking for it to happen sometime next week,” Trump responded as he departed Washington for Florida.

In Florida, he told the media that he would be “very firm” with Netanyahu on the need for a speedy Gaza ceasefire while noting that the Israeli PM wants one as well.

A senior Israeli official, Ron Dermer, has been in Washington this week holding talks ahead of the meeting.

Last week, the US president had signalled that an agreement involving Israel and Hamas could come as early as the current week.

“The situation in Gaza is terrible. We think, within the next week, we are going to get a ceasefire,” he told reporters at the White House on Friday.

Hamas has said it is willing to free remaining prisoners in Gaza under any deal to end the war, while Israel says it will only back down once Hamas is “disarmed and dismantled”.

Military escalation in Gaza

But even as Netanyahu’s confidant was in talks over a possible ceasefire, Israeli planes and tanks struck heavily in north and south Gaza on Tuesday, destroying clusters of homes.

Thousands of Gaza residents again took flight as Israel issued new orders to evacuate, while its tanks pushed into eastern areas of Gaza City in the north and into Khan Younis and Rafah in the south, residents said.

Local health authorities said Israeli gunfire and military strikes across the enclave had killed at least 112 people and wounded more than 400 in the past 24 hours, with clusters of houses reported destroyed in Gaza City’s Shejaia and Zeitoun districts, east of Khan Younis and in Rafah. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a confidant of Netanyahu, is in Washington this week to meet with officials at the White House, President Donald Trump’s spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a press briefing on Monday.

Dermer would be exploring possibilities of regional diplomatic deals in the wake of Israel’s 12-day war with Iran last month, as well as ending the Gaza war, according to an Israeli official.

Ceasefire efforts stalled

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said pressure by Trump on Israel would be key to any breakthrough in stalled ceasefire efforts.

“We call upon the US administration to atone for its sin towards Gaza by declaring an end to the war,” he said.

After a six-week ceasefire at the start of this year, talks on extending the truce in the nearly 21-month war have stalled.

‘Halt GHF scheme’

Meanwhile, 171 charities in Geneva signed on the call for countries to press Israel to halt Gaza Humanitarian Foundation scheme over concerns it is putting civilians at risk of death and injury.

Over 500 people have been killed near aid distribution centres since May. “Palestinians in Gaza face an impossible choice: starve or risk being shot while trying desperately to reach food to feed their families,” the statement said.

Groups signing it included Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Amnesty International. The NGOs accused the GHF of forcing hungry and weak people to trek for hours, sometimes through active conflict zones.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2025