US President Donald Trump confirmed to reporters on Sunday, October 19, that the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire deal, which he announced on Wednesday, October 8, is still in place.
Trump’s confirmation came after Israel launched a renewed aggression on the besieged Gaza Strip during the past several days with a series of airstrikes and shooting attacks, which left dozens of Palestinians killed.
Israel claimed that its warplanes waged the deadly airstrikes in retaliation of an alleged shooting attack by Hamas fighters against two personnel of the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF), leaving them dead. Aid entry into the starved enclave was halted as a response to the purported shooting attack as well.
“We want to make sure that it’s going to be very peaceful with Hamas. As you know, they’ve been quite rambunctious. They’ve been doing some shooting, and we think maybe the leadership isn’t involved in that, that it’s some rebels within, but anyway it’s going to be handled properly. It’s going to be handled toughly, but properly,” Trump told reporters.
When he was asked: “Is the ceasefire still in place?” The US President replied: “Yes.”
Israel has committed scores of violations since the ceasefire started
Although the ceasefire deal went into effect on Friday, October 10, Israel has committed scores of violations, killing at least 100 Palestinians and wounding 230 others, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip reported that after the renewed Israeli aggression, the death toll in the war-torn strip has risen to 68,216 fatalities since October 7, 2023.
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Trump sends Witkoff, Kushner, Vance to Israel to bolster the fragile ceasefire deal
In an effort to salvage the fragile ceasefire deal, the US administration dispatched its “Middle East” envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to Israel on Monday, October 20, to meet Israeli officials, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and two IOF major generals.
Meanwhile, US Vice President JD Vance is set to arrive in Israel on Tuesday, October 21, to join the discussions on the deal.
Israeli media outlets reported that Witkoff and Kushner warned Netanyahu against taking any action that may jeopardize the first phase of the deal.
“Do not act in a way that would endanger the ceasefire. We want to do everything to reach the second phase,” the two US envoys were cited saying while addressing Netanyahu. “Self-defense is acceptable, risking the ceasefire is not,” they insisted.
Maintaining the first phase of the ceasefire deal was not the only topic to be discussed during the meetings. The “entire mechanism for dismantling and demilitarizing postwar Gaza”, and “all the preparations necessary to carry out the second phase of the agreement” were also on the table.
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