Israeli PM indicates "good chances" for reaching deal with Hamas this week

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expresses optimism about the chances for a ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas to be reached soon.

“I think there is a good chance we’ll have the ceasefire,” he told the American Fox Business agency on July 9, ahead of his meeting with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon in Washington, Caliber.Az reports. 

His statement came after Netanyahu wrapped up his second White House meeting with US President Donald Trump without any public announcement of a breakthrough in the ongoing Gaza ceasefire and hostage release talks, which was the primary topic of their meeting.

Speaking from the Blair House in Washington in the course of his visit, Netanyahu stressed that Israel is determined to achieve all of its goals in Gaza –“the release of all our hostages, both living and dead; the elimination of Hamas’s military and governing capabilities; and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel.”

According to an article by Times of Israel, citing sources familiar with the negotiations, the US is more optimistic than Egyptian and Qatari mediators about the chances that a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal can be reached this week.

US Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff also told reporters earlier on July 8 that he was hopeful a deal can be reached this week, and that three of the four sticking points were resolved during the past three days of proximity talks in Doha.

As the Times of Israel reports, the three points are: Hamas’s demand for guarantees from the mediators that the ceasefire will remain in place even if talks on the terms of a permanent ceasefire have not wrapped up by the end of the 60-day truce that is currently being negotiated; Hamas’s demand for aid to be surged into Gaza through UN-backed mechanisms; and terms of the hostage-prisoner swap.

Negotiation talks on the Israel-Hamas conflict are ongoing in Qatar, with an Israeli official telling the outlet that the main discussion point is the deployment of IDF troops in the event of a ceasefire, with Israel reportedly insisting that troops remain on the Morag Corridor north of Rafah.

By Nazrin Sadigova