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Israel Hayom newspaper, quoting an unnamed source, reported that Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump agreed in a phone call this week on a rapid end to the war in Gaza, potentially within two weeks.
Israel Hayom said the deal could include expanding the Abraham Accords between Israel and its Arab neighbors to include Saudi Arabia and Syria. The prime minister’s office declined to comment on the report.
The US-brokered Israel-Iran ceasefire announced by Trump has raised hopes among Palestinians for an end to over 20 months of war in Gaza, which has devastated the territory and displaced most of its residents. Malnutrition is now widespread.
Later, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday the outcome of Israel’s war with Iran presented opportunities for peace that his country should not waste.
In a statement, Netanyahu said:
“This victory presents an opportunity for a dramatic widening of peace agreements. We are working on this with enthusiasm.
Alongside the freeing of hostages and defeat of Hamas, there is a window of opportunity that must not be missed. We cannot waste even a single day.”
On Sunday, Netanyahu said that with Iran weakened, he expected more countries to join the Abraham Accords.
“We have broken the axis,” Netanyahu told reporters. “This is a huge change and Israel’s status is rising, not just in the Middle East but also in the world. This is a tectonic shift.
We will see a bright new future, of security, of prosperity, of hope and of peace.”
Airstrikes killed at least 21 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, local health authorities said, as mediators reached out to Israel and Hamas to seek a resumption of ceasefire talks to end the war.
Local health authorities said an Israeli airstrike killed at least nine people at a school housing displaced families in the Sheikh Radwan suburb in Gaza City, while another strike killed nine people near a tent encampment in Khan Younis in the south of the enclave.
Three other people were killed by Israeli gunfire and dozens were wounded as crowds awaited UN aid trucks along a main route in central Gaza, medics said, the latest in a series of multiple fatalities at aid distribution points
