Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Israel and Hamas are on the brink of a hostage deal as President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and his Middle East envoy traveled to the region for talks, raising hopes Sunday that the war in Gaza was on the verge of ending.
Progress toward a ceasefire came after Hamas responded positively to Trump’s 20-point plan unveiled last week, pending conditions.
Israeli attacks continued into Sunday, Gaza’s Civil Defense spokesman, Mahmoud Basal, told NBC News, despite Trump’s calls to end the strikes.
Israel believes 20 of the 48 hostages remaining in Gaza are still alive. Under the plan proposed by Trump, Hamas would have three days to release them.
Trump has given the militant group until 6 p.m. ET Sunday to accept, and he warned Hamas to move quickly, “or else all bets will be off.”
“When Hamas confirms, the Ceasefire will be IMMEDIATELY effective,” he said on Truth Social.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Sunday on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that ongoing negotiations between Hamas and Israel are not yet the end of the war and that setting up a group to govern Gaza would take “some time,” but he emphasized that there was a plan to do so.
“You can’t set up a governance structure in Gaza that’s not Hamas in three days,” he said.
But as negotiators converge on the Middle East this weekend, optimism that an end to the war is close has spread across the region on the week of its second anniversary.
U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are traveling to Egypt to hammer out a deal’s remaining sticking points, a senior White House official told NBC News on Saturday.
Asked whether hostages could be released as early as this week, Rubio said, “We want it to be as soon as possible.”
Netanyahu said Saturday he hoped to announce the return of the hostages during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which lasts from Monday to Oct. 13, and that he had also sent a team to Egypt to “finalize the technical details of the release of our hostages.”
A deal is “not final yet,” he said.
Trump’s plan demands that Hamas disarm and does not immediately order the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. Hamas did not mention disarmament in its response and has long stipulated a full Israeli withdrawal as part of any deal.
Netanyahu said Israeli forces would “redeploy in such a way” that the Israel Defense Forces “will continue to hold all of the territories it controls deep inside the Strip” as part of the first stage of the plan.
Trump posted a map on Truth Social Saturday that he said showed the initial withdrawal line that Israel has agreed to. The map shows Israel would maintain control of the majority of the strip.
Hamas “will be disarmed” and Gaza demilitarized in the second phase of Trump’s plan, Netanyahu said, warning that it would happen either politically or militarily.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said Saturday that the total death toll in the enclave had passed 67,000 after the addition of more than 700 people whose data had been verified.
Israeli airstrikes killed 65 people and injured over 150 in the previous 24 hours, the Health Ministry said Sunday. Trump said Friday that Israel must “immediately stop the bombing of Gaza.”
Dr. Muhammad Abu Salmiya, the director of Al-Shifa Hospital, said some were killed in ongoing strikes and others were shot as they tried to return to their homes in conflict areas or as they waited for aid.
Tuesday is the second anniversary of the start of the Israel-Hamas war, which began on Oct. 7, 2023, with the Hamas-led terrorist attacks on Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 abducted.
As the remaining hostages approach their third year in captivity, tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in Tel Aviv on Saturday night awaiting news of a potential hostage deal.
According to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, an estimated 120,000 people attended.
At Hostages Square, demonstrators unfurled a huge black banner reading, in white and red letters, “It’s now or never.”
