President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on June 27, 2025. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times
President Donald Trump said on Friday that a cease-fire agreement to bring an end to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza could potentially be achieved “within the next week.”
During an Oval Office event marking a Congo-Rwanda accord, Trump told reporters that he had spoken with individuals involved in the efforts to broker a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas.
“I think it’s close, I just spoke with some of the people involved, and it’s a terrible situation that’s going Gaza,” Trump said. “We think within the next week, we’re going to get a cease-fire.”
The Trump administration has been working to secure a cessation of hostilities between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group, which have been in conflict after Hamas launched a large-scale attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, prompting Israel to retaliate with a military operation targeting Hamas in Gaza.
On May 31, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, urged Hamas to accept the proposed framework as the basis for proximity talks that he said could pave the way for a 60-day pause in the ongoing war and the release of hostages.
“That is the only way we can close a 60-day ceasefire deal in the coming days in which half of the living hostages and half of those who are deceased will come home to their families and in which we can have at the proximity talks substantive negotiations in good-faith to try to reach a permanent ceasefire,” Witkoff said in a statement.
The proposal would involve Hamas releasing 10 living Israeli hostages and the remains of 18 deceased hostages. In exchange, Israel would release 125 prisoners serving life sentences and 1,111 Palestinian detainees arrested following Hamas’s terror attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
Israel has approved the U.S. proposal. Hamas responded to the proposal.
It said its counterproposal seeks a permanent cease-fire, a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and unimpeded humanitarian aid access. The group also said the agreement would involve the release of 10 living hostages and the remains of 18 more, in exchange for “an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners.”
Witkoff said that Hamas’s response was “totally unacceptable” and that it “only takes us backward.”
The proposed agreement came after a previous six-week truce that ended in March. Israel has since resumed airstrikes against Hamas targets and restricted aid access, as Israel has accused Hamas of stealing the aid.
The Israel Defense Forces launched its military operation in Gaza after Hamas-led terrorists carried out widespread attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. More than 1,100 people were killed, thousands were injured, and 250 were taken hostage during that attack.
The Hamas-controlled Gaza health department stated that Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza has led to more than 56,000 deaths. The department does not distinguish between civilians and terrorists, and The Epoch Times is unable to verify the number of deaths.
Tom Ozimek and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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