The US president’s proposal is the closest negotiators have got to an end to the war – but a deal is still far off
Hamas’s partial acceptance of Donald Trump’s Gaza deal on Friday has been welcomed internationally and is the closest Israel and Hamas have got in two years to ending the war in Gaza.
Negotiators from Israel, Hamas and Palestinian parties, and the US will meet in Cairo, where they will begin negotiations on Monday to iron out differences remaining over the US president’s plan. They have a groundswell of optimism and political momentum behind them as Israeli, Palestinian, US and Arab leaders alike urge the warring parties to reach a deal.
The world is watching closely to see whether this could finally mark the end of the brutal war in Gaza, which has had a series of collapsed peace talks and has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians and wounded about 170,000 more. The death toll is widely considered to be an underestimate, as Gaza’s health ministry only lists bodies that have been recovered, not the thousands buried under the rubble.
Hamas’s partial acceptance of the Trump plan is the closest negotiators have got in recent months to a comprehensive end to the war in Gaza. However, they are still far off from a deal.
