Trump Pressuring Israel to Enter Phase Two of Ceasefire Agreement

The US is reportedly ramping up the pressure on Israel to move onto the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire; however, Israel insists that it must receive the last captive body as a condition for such, Israeli media reported on Sunday.

Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump's administration said it is working on a plan that is expected to be unveiled in the coming weeks and which could proceed with or without finding the captive's body.

This comes as Israel claims that Hamas and other Palestinian groups aren’t making sufficient efforts to locate Ran Gvili's remains, and progress to the ceasefire's next stage would make the groups "unwilling" to search for it even more.

Hamas has repeatedly said that Israel's restrictions on heavy machinery and equipment entering Gaza are hindering efforts to find captive bodies.

Israeli officials told that this remains a point of contention between Washington and Tel Aviv, but if the two fail to reach an agreement, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "will attempt to find a solution" during their scheduled meeting at the end of the month.

The family of Gvili, the last remaining captive, said in a statement that phase one of the ceasefire and captive deal is "not complete as long as Ran is not home".

"We demand that Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump pressure Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad to return Ran immediately. There can be no move to the second stage until he is here."

The Israeli Kan radio on Sunday said that Israel and the Red Cross are renewing their search for Gvili's remains in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood. Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya said the group and the Red Cross would also search areas that haven't been covered.

In the same context, the US is reportedly working on establishing the International Stabilisation Force (ISF), the UN-mandated peacekeeping force set to oversee the redevelopment of the Gaza Strip, the disarmament of Hamas and the training of a Palestinian police force as stipulated by the US-brokered peace plan.

According to an official quoted by the website, Washington is considering deploying the force on the Israeli side of the so-called Yellow Line, which would include Rafah, based on the premise that it is "preferable to disarm Hamas where its influence is weakest".

Hamas, which has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007, has rejected the notion of an international force seeking to disarm the group, and said it would not lay down its weapons unless Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories ends.

Key mediator Egypt has called for the deployment of the ISF "as soon as possible" along the Yellow Line, which demarcates the Gaza Strip into two Hamas-controlled and Israeli-occupied areas.

During a session at the Doha Forum 2025 on Saturday, Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said international monitors are needed because "one party, which is Israel, is violating the ceasefire every day and claiming that the other side is the one who is [the one doing such]".

He said Egypt favours a peacekeeping "rather than peace-enforcing" mandate, but stressed the need for the fragile ceasefire in Gaza to stabilise.

"Now we have to consolidate the ceasefire to move forward as soon as possible to the second phase of the Trump peace plan."

Israel has violated the ceasefire, which took effect on 10 October, over 500 times and has killed 376 Palestinians since.

Abdelatty stressed that neither Egypt nor any other foreign country should govern Gaza in the event that Israel’s war on the enclave ends.

"The Palestinians should run their own affairs," he said in Doha.

"Gaza and the West Bank are an 'integral part' of the independent Palestinian state" until the Palestinian Authority is fully empowered and deployed in Gaza," he added.