Israeli officials are holding talks in Washington on a ceasefire in Gaza following a military escalation in the enclave. Ron Dermer, Israel's minister for strategic affairs and a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is in the US capital for meetings with White House officials."Dermer is exploring the possibilities of regional diplomatic agreements in the wake of Israel's 12-day war with Iran and to end the war in Gaza," said President Donald Trump's spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, quoted by Reuters.
Netanyahu announced that he will also visit the United States next week, with a meeting scheduled with President Trump on July 7. An Israeli official in Washington said the two leaders will discuss “Iran, Gaza, Syria and other regional challenges.”
"The US should atone for its sin towards Gaza by declaring an end to the war"
Ceasefire efforts in the Palestinian enclave are stalled, and Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said that"Trump's pressure on Israel will be key to any progress in peace negotiations," launching an urgent appeal to the US: "We call on the US administration to atone for its sin towards Gaza by declaring a ceasefire."
Hamas representatives claim that the group is willing to release all remaining hostages only as part of a deal to end the war, while Israel argues that the hostages must be released immediately and the conflict can only end if Hamas is disarmed and no longer rules Gaza.
The conflict began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas fighters launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. The Israeli military response has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, most of them civilians, and displaced almost the entire population of 2.3 million, generating a severe humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and surrounding areas.
The war has been going on for almost 21 months.
In the past 24 hours, Israeli attacks have killed at least 112 people and wounded more than 400, according to local medical authorities, with the destruction concentrated in neighborhoods in Gaza City as well as in two other major cities in southern Gaza, Khan Younis and Rafah. Evacuated residents, including recently displaced families, have been forced to set up tents on the roads after fleeing the attacks. “We can’t sleep because of the sounds of tanks and planes exploding. The Israeli occupation is destroying homes in eastern Gaza, in Jabalia and other places around us,” said a resident of northwestern Gaza City.
Jabalia is a town and refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, one of the largest and most densely populated areas in the region, with numerous Palestinian residents, most of whom are refugees or their descendants.
Mediators from Qatar and Egypt have intensified their contacts with the parties involved, but have been unable to set a date for a new round of ceasefire negotiations. The war has been going on for almost 21 months.
