Bibi, Trump prioritize captives, not truce as 105 martyred in Gaza
On the ground, Gaza's civil defense agency said Wednesday that 105 people were killed and 530 wounded in Zionist strikes, at least six of them children. 'The explosion was massive, like an earthquake,' said Zuhair Judeh, 40, who witnessed one of the strikes, which prompted frantic scenes as people scrabbled in the rubble for survivors. 'It destroyed the house and several nearby homes. The bodies and remains of the martyrs were scattered,' he added, calling it 'a horrific massacre'.
Netanyahu is making his third US visit since Trump took office on Jan 20 and had earlier told reporters that while he did not think the Zionist entity's campaign in the Palestinian enclave was done, negotiators are 'certainly working' on a ceasefire. Trump met Netanyahu on Tuesday for the second time in two days to discuss the situation in Gaza, with the president's Middle East envoy indicating that the Zionist entity and Hamas were nearing an agreement on a ceasefire deal after 21 months of war.
Hamas official Taher Al-Nunu told Reuters they were engaged in a 'difficult round' of negotiations. The top issue for the group's negotiators was the free flow of aid into Gaza as well as the location of withdrawal lines of Zionist forces, and guarantees that negotiations would pave the way to a permanent ceasefire, he said.
A delegation from Qatar, the host of indirect talks between Zionist negotiators and the Palestinian group Hamas, met senior White House officials before Netanyahu's arrival on Tuesday, Axios said, citing a source familiar with the details.
Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, said the number of issues preventing the Zionist entity and Hamas from reaching an agreement had decreased from four to one, expressing optimism for a temporary ceasefire deal by the end of the week. Witkoff told reporters at a Cabinet meeting that the anticipated agreement would involve a 60-day ceasefire, with the release of 10 living and nine deceased hostages.
Netanyahu met with Vice President JD Vance before visiting the US Capitol on Tuesday, and was due back in Congress on Wednesday to meet US Senate leaders. 'We have still to finish the job in Gaza, release all our hostages, eliminate and destroy Hamas' military and government capabilities,' Netanyahu told reporters on Tuesday.
In recent weeks, the Zionist military has continued to hammer Gaza, where a teddy bear lay in the rubble on Wednesday at the site of one overnight airstrike in southern Gaza's Khan Yunis. Umm Mohammed Shaaban, a Palestinian grandmother mourning the deaths of three of her grandchildren in the attack, questioned the timing of a proposed ceasefire. 'After they finished us, they say they'll make a truce?' she said.
In Gaza City, people removed debris after another overnight airstrike, searching through a three-story house for survivors to no avail. One resident, Ahmed Al-Nahhal, said there was no fuel for trucks to help in rescue efforts. 'From midnight till now, we have been looking for the children,' he said. Nearby men carried bodies in shrouds while women wept. Some kissed bodies placed in the back of a vehicle.
The Zionist war has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and reduced much of Gaza to rubble. Hamas has long demanded an end to the war before it would free the remaining captives. Israel has insisted it would not agree to stop fighting until all hostages are released and Hamas dismantled. The United Nations estimates that most of Gaza's population of more than 2 million has been displaced, with experts saying in May that nearly half a million people faced the risk of starvation.
Netanyahu has meanwhile expressed hope that the Zionist entity could expand the Abraham Accords, normalization deals reached between the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco in 2020 under US mediation. 'We are working on this with full vigor,' Netanyahu said on X. - Agencies
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