U.S. President Donald Trump expressed hope on Friday, June 27, 2025, that a new ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas could be reached within days, signaling a potential pause in the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
Responding to reporters' questions about the progress of ceasefire negotiations, Trump said, “We think within the next week, we’re going to get a ceasefire.”
The Gaza conflict, which flared earlier this year, had already had a temporary ceasefire negotiated in the waning days of ex-President Joe Biden's term, with the complicity of Trump's then-new administration. The ceasefire fell apart in March, leading Israel to resume intense airstrikes against Hamas positions. The violence was renewed following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.
As a response, Israel enforced a total siege on Gaza, blocking the entry of food and basic necessities for more than two months, prompting increasing international concern about an impending famine in the enclave.
In recent times, Israel has permitted limited aid to return under the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation — a controversial program in which U.S. security officials and Israeli troops along Gaza's periphery are involved. Nevertheless, alarming reports have indicated Palestinians being shot while waiting in queues for food. Eyewitnesses and Gaza officials report that queues for aid have come under fire.
To assist the humanitarian cause, the U.S. declared on Thursday, June 26, that it would provide $30 million to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. "We're providing, as you know, a lot of money and a lot of food to that region," Trump said in his remarks on Friday.
“We’re involved because people are dying. And look at those crowds of people that have no food, no anything,” he added, referencing the desperate conditions on the ground.
Simultaneously, the liberal Israeli newspaper Haaretz had reported that, in accordance with unnamed military officials, some Israeli commanders reportedly ordered soldiers to shoot crowds around the centers dispensing aid — even if they were not a threat. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refuted these charges.
The negotiations on a ceasefire are ongoing under international pressure and mounting demands for accountability regarding the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The next few days could be crucial for an area that has experienced recurrent rounds of violence and tenuous ceasefires.
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