Netanyahu says Israel working on ceasefire plan on eve of Trump meeting

CAIRO — On the eve of a meeting in Washington with President Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel is working on a new ceasefire plan with the White House, but details are still being sorted out.

Netanyahu has come under heavy international pressure to end the war, especially during the ongoing offensive in Gaza City. The death toll in the Israel-Hamas war has topped 66,000 Palestinians, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Sunday.

In Monday’s White House meeting, Trump is expected to share a new proposal for ending the conflict.

“We’re working on it,” Netanyahu said on Fox News Sunday’s “The Sunday Briefing.” “It’s not been finalized yet, but we’re working with President Trump’s team, actually as we speak, and I hope ... we can make it a go.”

Arab officials briefed on the 21-point proposal say it calls for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages held by Hamas within 48 hours and a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the proposal has not been formally announced.

Netanyahu has vowed to continue fighting until his military destroys Hamas, whose Oct. 7, 2023, attack killed about 1,200 people and triggered the war. But he repeated an offer to allow Hamas operatives to leave Gaza as part of a deal ending the conflict.

“If they finish the war, release all the hostages, we let them out,” he said.

Trump has so far stood behind Israel. But the president has shown signs of impatience lately, particularly after Israel’s bombing this month of Qatar — host country of negotiations between Israel and Hamas — in what appears to have been a failed attempt to kill Hamas’ leadership.

Key Western allies have joined a growing list of countries recognizing a Palestinian state over Israeli objections. The European Union is considering sanctions, and there are growing moves for a sports and cultural boycott of Israel.

On Friday, a defiant Netanyahu told fellow world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly — after scores of delegates had poured out of the hall in protest — that his nation “must finish the job” against Hamas in Gaza as his military pressed on with an offensive in Gaza City.

Trump’s ceasefire proposal would include the release of all hostages within 48 hours and a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Palestinian enclave, according to three Arab officials briefed on the plan. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing talks, said the proposal is not final and changes are highly likely.

Trump discussed the proposal with Arab leaders in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

A Hamas official said the group was briefed on the plan but has yet to receive an official offer from Egyptian and Qatari mediators. Hamas has said it is ready to “study any proposals positively and responsibly.”

The official said the group had previously said it was willing to release all hostages in return for an end to the war and a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the enclave. Netanyahu has rejected those conditions.

In central Gaza on Sunday, hospitals said at least 10 people were killed when at least two strikes hit homes in the Nuseirat refugee camp.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said in its daily report that the death toll has climbed to 66,005, with 168,162 wounded since the war started. Among the dead were 79 who were brought to hospitals in the last 24 hours, it said.

The ministry, part of the Hamas-run administration, does not differentiate between civilians and militants in its toll, but has said women and children make up around half the dead. Its figures are seen as a reliable estimate by the U.N. and many independent experts.

Residents reported hearing sounds of explosions overnight across Gaza City, probably coming from the demolition of buildings through the detonation of explosive-laden vehicles and robots. “They were nonstop,” Sayed Baker, a Palestinian who shelters close to Shifa Hospital, said of the explosions.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strikes, but said it hit 140 Hamas military targets over the last 24 hours, including militants, observation equipment and infrastructure.

On Sunday, the military said it had struck a high-rise building in Gaza City after warning residents to evacuate. The strike leveled the 16-story Macca tower. No casualties were reported.

The Israeli military said the building housed “military infrastructure belonging to Hamas.” It is the latest in a series of demolitions in recent weeks as Israel expands its offensive.

Israel’s offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza, displacing around 90% of the population amid a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, with experts saying Gaza City is experiencing famine.

On Sunday, Israeli security forces also shot dead the alleged attacker in an incident in which a man was seriously injured at a road junction near Nablus in the West Bank. The attack was praised by Hamas. Violence has surged in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which alongside Gaza and East Jerusalem was captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East War and the Palestinians want for a future state.

Magdy and Lidman write for the Associated Press. Lidman reported from Tel Aviv. AP writer Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.