President Trump will reportedly announce a US-brokered Gaza ceasefire 'in the coming days’

U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to declare a ceasefire in Gaza within the coming days, according to a Sky News Arabic report on Monday morning. The report cited anonymous sources familiar with U.S.-led negotiations, which are reportedly being led by Palestinian-American mediator, Bashara Bahbah. 

The Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese news channel Al-Mayadeen reported that both Israel and Hamas are currently evaluating the proposal, which it said was developed “in cooperation with and with the approval of” Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East.

On Sunday, Trump told reporters that he wanted to try to end the war.

“We want to see if we can stop the fighting,” he said, adding, “We’ve spoken with Israel, and we want to bring this whole situation to an end as soon as possible.” 

Trump's comments came amid reports that he had asked Israel to postpone the expansion of its Gaza military campaign in order to prevent the ongoing hostage negotiations from collapsing. Trump is also allegedly frustrated with the Gaza War and the lack of resolution, after he promised to end the war quickly upon taking office.  

Although the negotiations for a hostage deal mediated by Qatar and Egypt have stalled, a separate effort by Witkoff and U.S.-Palestinian businessman Bahbah have continued behind the scenes. Reports reiterated that Washington is exerting pressure on Israel to delay the expansion of fighting in Gaza to allow time for a diplomatic breakthrough.

However, the Israeli government has already declared that any negotiations with Hamas would be conducted “under fire.” 

According to an Egyptian media report, the new proposal would involve a 60-day pause in fighting, during which 10 living hostages would be released in two phases – one at the beginning of the ceasefire and one at the end. Hamas would also hand over the bodies of 16 deceased hostages within several days of the start of the ceasefire. Hamas also demanded the entry of 1,000 humanitarian aid trucks per day, according to the Egyptian report.

During the ceasefire, negotiations would focus on ending the war and establishing a new governing authority in Gaza.

Another reported Hamas demand was that Witkoff and senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya publicly shake hands to confirm the deal.

Israel Hayom reported that Israel has rejected the proposal as incompatible with its war objectives. One official allegedly told the news site, “No responsible government in Israel would be willing to adopt such a proposal. It does not indicate a real desire on the part of Hamas to move forward with a deal according to the Witkoff plan.” 

The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) believes Hamas is in a difficult situation, having lost most of its command structure, suffered widespread infrastructure destruction, facing an economic crisis, and coming under growing civilian pressure to surrender.

The IDF believes the increased pressure could lead to a breakdown by Hamas, and thus advance a hostage deal.

The Israeli military announced that it expects to take control of about 75% of the Gaza Strip within two months, compared to about 40% as of today. On Sunday afternoon, the Hamas-run Ministry of Communications in Gaza stated that Israel already controls about 77% of the territory. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently said, "We are going to take over all the territories of the Gaza Strip.”