Trump says Gaza ceasefire will happen ‘within a week’

US envoy Steve Witkoff said a hostage deal and ceasefire agreement were “very close.”

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

On Friday, US President Donald Trump told reporters that he expected a ceasefire in Gaza “within the week.”

“I think it’s close. I just spoke with some of the people involved. It’s a terrible situation that’s going on in Gaza, and we think within the next week, we’re going to get a ceasefire,” he said.

The US has contributed $30 million through its Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to distribute aid in Gaza.

Trump continued, “It’s a terrible situation that’s going [in] Gaza… and we’re supplying a lot of money and a lot of food to that area because we have to.”

He added, “We’re, in theory, not involved in it, but we’re involved because people are dying. I look at those crowds of people that have no food, no anything.”

On Wednesday, Saudi channel Al-Hadath reported that Hamas officials claimed that there had been significant progress in ceasefire negotiations and that talks had resumed “intensively.”

US Special Envoy Steven Witkoff said a hostage deal and ceasefire agreement were “very close.”

At a NATO meeting at The Hague after the ceasefire in Israel’s war with Iran, Trump said there had been significant progress in Gaza.

On Wednesday, Israel suspended the transfer of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip following the emergence of video evidence showing that gangs affiliated with Hamas were intercepting and stealing the supplies.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz acknowledged that despite a newly implemented aid distribution system designed to prevent such theft, Hamas had succeeded in seizing the aid.

Until a revised system for secure and accountable aid distribution is established, all humanitarian deliveries to Gaza will remain suspended, the leaders announced.

This move came shortly after Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionist Party, threatened to withdraw from the coalition government unless aid shipments were halted and stronger safeguards were put in place to prevent the diverting of supplies by Hamas.