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'There will be no Hamas' in post-war Gaza: Netanyahu

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National Heraldpublisher-detail-arrow
02nd July, 2025 20:48 IST

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday vowed “there will be no Hamas” in postwar Gaza.

US president Donald Trump said on Tuesday, 2 July, that Israel had agreed on terms for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept the deal before conditions worsen. The US leader has been increasing pressure on the Israeli government and Hamas to broker a ceasefire, and hostage agreement and bring about an end to the war.

Hamas has suggested that it was open to a ceasefire agreement with Israel, but stopped short of accepting a US-backed proposal announced by President Donald Trump hours earlier, insisting on its longstanding position that any deal bring an end to the war in Gaza.

Hamas said in a brief statement Wednesday that it had received a proposal from the mediators and is holding talks with them to “bridge gaps” to return to the negotiating table to try to reach a ceasefire agreement.

Trump has been increasing pressure on the Israeli government and Hamas to broker a ceasefire and hostage agreement, and to bring about an end to the war.

Trump said the 60-day period would be used to work toward ending the war — something Israel says it won't accept until Hamas is defeated. However, Trump said that a deal might come together as soon as next week.

But Hamas' response, which emphasised its demand that the war end, raised questions about whether the latest offer would materialise into an actual pause in fighting.

Hamas official Taher al-Nunu said that the militant group was “ready and serious regarding reaching an agreement”.

He said Hamas was “ready to accept any initiative that clearly leads to the complete end to the war”.

A Hamas delegation is expected to meet with Egyptian and Qatari mediators in Cairo on Wednesday to discuss the proposal, according to an Egyptian official. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, because he wasn't authorised to discuss the talks with the media.

Disagreement on how the war should end

Throughout the nearly 21-month-long war, ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas have repeatedly faltered over whether the war should end as part of any deal.

Hamas has said that it is willing to free the remaining 50 hostages, less than half of whom are said to be alive, in exchange for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the war.

Israel says it will only agree to end the war if Hamas surrenders, disarms and exiles itself, something the group refuses to do.

An Israeli official said that the latest proposal calls for a 60-day deal that would include a partial Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a surge in humanitarian aid to the territory. The mediators and the US would provide assurances about talks to end the war, but Israel isn't committing to that as part of the latest proposal, the official said.

The official wasn't authorised to discuss the details of the proposed deal with the media and spoke on condition of anonymity.

It wasn't clear how many hostages would be freed as part of the agreement, but previous proposals have called for the release of about 10.

Israel has yet to publicly comment on Trump's announcement. On Monday, 7 July, Trump is set to host Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, days after Ron Dermer, a senior Netanyahu adviser, held discussions with top US officials about Gaza, Iran and other matters.

Trump issues another warning

On Tuesday, 1 July, Trump wrote on social media that Israel had "agreed to the necessary conditions to finalise the 60 Day CEASEFIRE, during which time we will work with all parties to end the War.”

“I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE,” he said.

Trump's warning may find a sceptical audience with Hamas. Even before the expiration of the war's longest ceasefire in March, Trump has repeatedly issued dramatic ultimatums to pressure Hamas to agree to longer pauses in the fighting that would see the release of more hostages and a return of more aid for Gaza's civilians.

Still, Trump views the current moment as a potential turning point in the brutal conflict that has left more than 57,000 dead in the Palestinian territory.

Gaza's health ministry said the death toll passed the 57,000 mark over the night of Tuesday into Wednesday, after hospitals received 142 bodies overnight. The ministry doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants in its death count, but says that more than half of the dead are women and children.

Since dawn of Wednesday, Israeli strikes have killed a total of 40 people across the Gaza Strip, the ministry said. Hospital officials said four children and seven women were among the dead.

The Israeli military, which blames Hamas for the civilian casualties because it operates from populated areas, said it was looking into the reports.

The killing fields of Gaza: Netanyahu accuses ‘Haaretz’ of defaming IDF

This war began on 7 October 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages.

The war has left the coastal Palestinian territory in ruins, with much of the urban landscape flattened in the fighting.

More than 90 per cent of Gaza's 2.3 million population has been displaced, often multiple times. And the war has sparked a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, pushing hundreds of thousands of people toward hunger.

Hospital director killed

The director of the Indonesian Hospital, Dr Marwan Sultan, was killed in an apartment in an Israeli strike west of Gaza City, a hospital statement said. The hospital is the Palestinian enclave's largest medical facility north of Gaza City and has been a critical lifeline since the start of the war.

The hospital was surrounded by Israeli troops last month and evacuated alongside the other two primary hospitals in northern Gaza.

The bodies of Sultan, his wife, daughter and son-in-law, arrived at Shifa Hospital torn into pieces, according to Issam Nabhan, head of the nursing department at the Indonesian Hospital.

“Gaza lost a great man and doctor," Nabhan said. "He never left the hospital one moment since the war began and urged us to stay and provide humanitarian assistance. We don't know what he did to deserve getting killed.”

Ed: Combined AP inputs edited for repetition

World’s first war on children: Watch first-person account from Gaza

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