U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday expressed optimism about a potential cease-fire in Gaza, saying an agreement between Israel and Hamas could be reached as early as next week, amid growing international outrage over the humanitarian crisis in the besieged enclave due to Israel's ongoing genocide.
“We think within the next week, we're going to get a cease-fire,” Trump told reporters, signaling renewed diplomatic efforts to end the conflict that reignited in March following Israel’s decision to end a previous truce and resume airstrikes on Gaza.
The earlier cease-fire, brokered during the final days of former President Joe Biden’s administration with backing from Trump’s incoming team, was short-lived. Since its collapse, Israel has intensified its attacks and cut off food and essential supplies to Gaza for over two months and frequently targeted aid distribution centers — a move that drew widespread condemnation and warnings of famine.
Israel has since resumed limited aid delivery through the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S.-backed initiative involving American security contractors operating alongside Israeli troops at the border. The U.S. announced Thursday it would fund the program with an initial $30 million.
“We’re involved because people are dying,” Trump said. “Look at those crowds of people that have no food, no anything.”
Palestinian witnesses and local officials report that civilians have been killed while waiting for aid. Israel’s left-leaning daily Haaretz cited unnamed soldiers who alleged commanders ordered troops to open fire near distribution centers to disperse civilians, even when no threat was present.
The U.N. chief, Antonio Guterres, on Friday condemned the U.S. and Israeli-led aid initiative, calling it a "death sentence."
“People are being killed simply trying to feed themselves and their families,” Guterres said. “Any operation that channels desperate civilians into militarized zones is inherently unsafe. It is killing people.”
