Key Points and Summary – Even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with US President Donald Trump in Washington on July 7 to discuss a potential 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, the complex, multi-front war Israel faces continues to rage.
-On the same day as the meeting, five Israeli soldiers were killed in a Hamas ambush in northern Gaza, a region the IDF has repeatedly cleared.
-The following day, Iran-backed Houthi rebels sank a cargo ship in the Red Sea, and Israel carried out strikes against a Hezbollah operative in Lebanon and an IRGC-backed group in Syria, underscoring the immense difficulty of achieving lasting peace.
As Israel and US Talk Peace, Hamas and Houthis Escalate Attacks
Israel’s war in Gaza has grinded on for more than 20 months. There are still around fifty hostages in Gaza. Israel believes approximately twenty of them are still alive. Israel still wants to defeat Hamas.
However, the Trump administration has indicated it would like to see a sixty-day ceasefire and a possible end to the war. Can Israel end the war while also achieving its objectives? Getting the hostages back is one goal. However, it’s unclear if Hamas will ever return all the people it kidnapped on October 7, 2023.
Oval Office Meeting
Israel’s Prime Minister flew to Washington to meet with US President Donald Trump on July 7. This was an important meeting. It is also the third meeting the two leaders have had since Trump came to office in January. Netanyahu met the American leader in January and again in April.
Each meeting has brought its own twists. The January meeting followed Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, who had secured a ceasefire the day before the inauguration. Trump appeared to support a reconstruction plan for Gaza in January. He also floated relocating Gazans while the Gaza Strip is rebuilt.
By April, things had changed. Trump was pushing tariffs, and Netanyahu ostensibly flew to Washington to make sure Israel was not slapped with heavy tariffs. However, it now appears that the meeting foreshadowed possible Israeli escalation with Iran.
Israel held off on attacking Iran until June, while the US attempted to get a deal with Tehran. When Tehran stalled, Israel carried out a surprise attack in mid-June. Twelve days later, after the US carried out a round of strikes on Iran, Trump secured a ceasefire.
Now it is July, and Trump has spoken about a new Gaza ceasefire. Trump’s doctrine when it comes to these kinds of deals tends to follow a model. Trump will float a deal and then attempt to persuade both sides to agree. However, this time it’s unclear if Israel and Hamas can bridge the gaps between what both sides want. Hamas wants the war to end, and it wants to drag out a deal, holding onto hostages and only releasing them slowly.
Israel’s official position is that the hostages must all be returned. In addition, Hamas’ military and governance capabilities must be defeated. There is increased talk among Israeli officials about removing Hamas from power. “Our intention is that Hamas will no longer rule there. We will do what is necessary to make that happen,” Netanyahu said in Washington. Israeli officials have floated this “no more Hamas” concept since the days after October 7. However, Hamas continues to survive in Gaza.
On July 7, as Netanyahu was in Washington, Hamas placed improvised explosive devices in the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun. They waited for Israeli infantry to pass the area and then detonated the explosives.
Then they ambushed the soldiers, killing five and wounding a dozen. Beit Hanoun is near the border with Israel. It has been cleared by the IDF many times since the beginning of the war. Nevertheless, the terrorists have been able to re-infiltrate.
On the Ground
The attack in Beit Hanoun is not Israel’s only problem. The Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen have also begun attacking ships again. On July 8, the Houthis published video and images of their attack on the MV Magic Seas, a cargo ship in the Red Sea. The Houthis attacked the vessel with small skiffs and kamikaze drones. The video they published also shows them taking control of the vessel, then blowing it up and sinking it. Israel has carried out a new round of airstrikes on the Houthis. However, the renewed attacks on ships show the group is not deterred.
In addition, Israel carried out a strike on a Hezbollah member in Lebanon on July 8. The Israel Defense Forces said that Israeli aircraft, “guided by IDF intelligence, struck and eliminated the terrorist Mehran Mustafa Ba‘jur in the area of Tripoli in Lebanon.” The IDF said that he had been responsible for directing attacks on Israel. In Syria, the IDF also carried out a raid near the border. In the raid, the IDF said it had apprehended a group backed by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
This continued aggression shows that Israel continues to fight on multiple fronts. A ceasefire in Gaza could reduce some tensions on these fronts. However, a truce in Gaza is not a magic wand to end all the crises in the Middle East. Israel-Iran tensions continue to smolder. Israel’s attack on Iran has brushed aside a taboo that existed. In the past, the two countries fought in the shadows.
Now there is direct confrontation. Trump’s policy is to push for ceasefires and deals. However, there are many challenges to surmount. In Lebanon, for instance, Trump’s envoy, Ambassador Tom Barrack, recently visited to try to address the continued role of Hezbollah.
US partners and allies in the Gulf, such as the UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, want to see tensions reduced in the region. It’s unclear if the Trump-Netanyahu meetings in Washington can thread the needle to bring more ceasefires and peace deals in the region.
About the Author: Seth Frantzman
Seth Frantzman is the author of The October 7 War: Israel’s Battle for Security in Gaza (2024) and an adjunct fellow at The Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He is a Senior Middle East Analyst for The Jerusalem Post. Seth is now a National Security Journal Contributing Editor.
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Yeah
July 8, 2025 at 9:04 pm
There can NO ceasefire in gaza, as long as benjamin netanyahu is in power.
Netanyahu’s aim is similar to, or exactly same as hitler’s aim in ww2, the ‘final solution’ principal to be applied to all the hated enemies of the state (state of israel).
What did hitler say in munich in 1923. “The story of survival is one of the struggle between the strong and the weak.”
In 2018, netanyahu repeated hitler’s munich words ad verbatim.
“The strong will survive. The weak will be crushed and then erased from history.”
So, how to have any real ceasefire for gaza, except fake ersatz ceasefires meant strictly for the IDF to rearm and regroup after each period of intense firing and blasting activities for pursuing more intense final solution operations.
Jim
July 8, 2025 at 9:56 pm
Hamas fights because Israel wants to defeat it.
(According to Netanyahu’s coalition and many others in Israel the Gazans are not targets, Hamas is the target, but there is collateral damage… others vigorously disagree and suggest larger objectives…)
The Houthis fight because they object to Israel’s Gaza policies… how Israel treats the Gazans as a whole.
So, theoretically, a cease fire can stop the killing.
Then there is Iran over the horizon.
Many would disagree I’m sure, but I suggest peace is in Israel’s best interest… it may not be in the Netanyahu coalition’s interest for various political reasons, but for the sake of Israel as a whole, peace is better than war.
It’s as simple as ‘Jaw jaw is better than war war.’
Israel’s economy is in shambles.
Citizens are leaving for safer harbor on second passports many Israeli citizens have.
How is this good for Israel?
Of course, I’m not there, and that’s important to note.
But it’s corrosive to society. Netanyahu’s government has polarized Israel’s politics and divided their society, although, in the afterglow of the cease fire with Iran his popularity is better than it has been.
… but, I suspect after things settle down Israeli citizens will look around and know better than to think highly of Netanyahu.
In any event, a cease fire is fraught with difficulty and, apparently, easy to break.
But cooling-off periods can help.
Hopefully, it will be in this case.
Israel needs peace, not war, but Netanyahu seems to be all about war… and war that doesn’t go according to his grandiose & boastful aims…
I hope the People of Israel wake up and realize Netanyahu’s ideas & methods are unsound.
And hurt Israel, not help it as many assume.
Zhduny
July 9, 2025 at 8:49 am
Ceasefire and peace and civil human rights and international law aren’t exactly the personal strongpoints of both netanyahu and trump.
So asking for a ceasefire in Gaza while bibi and taco are two very close bosom buddies is like asking for snow to fall in hades. While Asmodeus is in charge.
Very very recently, there have just appeared reports that trump threatened to bomb Moscow and Beijing during his first term in office.
The audio recounting those threats were recorded by CNN during a private fundraising event in 2024. While trump was a presidential candidate.
So, trump and netanyahu are people who prefer to bomb their way to ohtain answers, not any ceasefire or peace proposal.
Xx
July 9, 2025 at 10:05 pm
Attacking Israeli soldiers is not terrorism. It’s war.