People will take part in protests calling for the end of the war and the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and will take part in the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, Israel on Saturday, June 28, 2025.
Ariel Shalit/AP
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Ariel Shalit/AP
TEL AVIV, Israel — US President Donald Trump on Sunday called for progress in the ceasefire talks in Gaza, stopping the fight in the 20-month conflict, and it appears the camp is approaching an agreement.
Israeli officials said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is planning to travel to Washington, D.C. in the coming weeks. Officials declined to discuss the focus of the visit and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss plans that have not yet been finalized.
“Try a contract in Gaza. Take hostages back!!” Trump wrote socially on the truth about his social media platforms between his Senate vote on taxes and posts on spending reduction bills.
Trump hoped for a deal on Friday and said there could be a ceasefire contract next week. Asked a question from a reporter, he said, “We are working on Gaza and we are trying to take care of it.”
Trump has repeatedly called on Israel and Hamas to end the war in Gaza. Despite reaching an eight-week ceasefire, as Trump took office earlier this year, attempts to bring aspects to a new deal have failed ever since.
Israeli strategic issues Ron Dahmer’s top Netanyahu advisor was scheduled to travel to Washington this week for talks with the ceasefire.
Trump Post criticizes Netanyahu corruption trial
The Gaza message was not the only Middle East-related post by Trump. On Saturday evening, he doubled criticism of the legal process against Netanyahu, who is on trial for alleged corruption, calling it “a political witch hunt that is very similar to the witch hunt I was forced to endure.”
Palestinian parents killed in an Israeli strike in the Gaza Strip mourn his death at Alsifa Hospital in Gaza city on Saturday, June 28, 2025.
Jehad alshrafi/ap
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In a Truth Social post, he said the trial had prevented discussions on Gaza’s ceasefire.
“(Netanyahu) is currently in the process of negotiating a contract with Hamas, which includes retrieving hostages. What about the Israeli Prime Minister being forced to sit in court all day?
The post echoed a similar statement made last week when Trump asked to cancel the trial. It was dramatic interference by international allies in the interior affairs of sovereign states. And despite Trump’s popularity within the country, it surprised many people in Israel.
Israeli forces order new evacuation in northern Gaza
Israeli forces ordered a massive evacuation of Palestinians in a massive belt in North Gaza on Sunday.
Colonel Avicei Adley, a military spokesman, posted an order on social media. It includes several regions in the eastern and northern part of Gaza city, as well as Jabariya refugee camps.
The military is expanding the escalating attack to the northern section of the city, asking people to move south to the Mwasi region of southern Gaza, Adrie said.
Palestinians will dig sand in search of their belongings after an Israeli strike crashed into an evacuation tent camp in Gaza city on Saturday, June 28, 2025.
Jehad alshrafi/ap
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Hundreds of thousands of people are in northern Gaza after being empty early in the war and then returned during a ceasefire earlier this year.
The ongoing Israeli attacks aim to move Palestinians to southern Gaza, allowing the troops to operate more freely to fight extremists. Rights groups say their moves amount to forced relocation.
The key points of attachment to how war ends
The war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023 with an attack by Hamas, in which extremists killed 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages.
Israel’s retaliatory response has killed more than 56,000 people, local health officials said. Local health officials do not count and distinguish between militants and civilians, but say more than half of the deaths are women and children.
The war caused humanitarian catastrophes, expelling most of Gaza’s population multiple times and obliterating much of the territory’s urban landscape.
Consultations between Israel and Hamas have repeatedly upset one major fixed point, whether or not the war should end as part of a ceasefire agreement.
Hamas says he is willing to free all hostages in exchange for the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces and the end of the war. Israel refuses, stating that it agrees to end the war once Hamas disarms and enters exile.
