Alexandra Sharp
Foreign Policy / July 25, 2025
Foreign pressure to end the war is mounting as Gaza’s hunger crisis worsens.
Israel is considering “alternative options” to cease-fire talks with Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday, though he did not elaborate on what those alternatives might be. The apparent shift in focus comes mere hours after Israel and the United States recalled their negotiating teams from Qatar in a move that sheds doubt on the efficacy of ongoing truce talks amid a worsening hunger crisis in Gaza.
“Hamas is the obstacle to a hostage release deal,” Netanyahu said on Friday, as his government faces increasing pressure from hostages’ families to bring their loved ones home. Around 50 captives remain in Gaza, of whom less than half are believed to still be alive. The current deal under discussion would implement an initial 60-day cease-fire, during which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 others in exchange for some Palestinian prisoners.
“Hamas didn’t really want to make a deal,” U.S. President Donald Trump said after a phone call with Netanyahu on Friday. “I think they want to die, and it’s very bad. It got to a point where you have to finish the job.” He added that he believes Hamas will never want to release the remaining hostages because it would mean the loss of their “bargaining chip” in truce talks.
Hamas denounced Israel’s and the United States’ decision to leave negotiations early, though senior Hamas official Bassem Naim said the Israeli delegation is expected to return to Qatar early next week to resume dialogue.
Friday’s halted cease-fire progress adds to mounting global pressure to stop Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, as the Palestinian death toll from malnutrition continues to rise. At least 113 people have died from hunger in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Thursday, and more than 1,000 others have been killed while trying to access food.
“The suffering and starvation unfolding in Gaza is unspeakable and indefensible,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer wrote in a statement on Thursday ahead of an emergency call on Friday with other European powers to discuss the aid crisis. “While the situation has been grave for some time, it has reached new depths and continues to worsen. We are witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe.”
This week, foreign ministers from 28 countries as well as more than 100 rights organizations issued separate joint statements calling for an end to the war and for Israel to lift restrictions on the flow of aid into Gaza, citing threats of imminent starvation across the territory. And on Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France will recognize Palestine as a state beginning in September. “The urgent thing today is that the war in Gaza stops and the civilian population is saved,” Macron said.
Israel has denounced these letters of warning as well as France’s bold diplomatic measure. “Such a move rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became,” Netanyahu said of Macron’s announcement. “A Palestinian state in these conditions would be a launchpad to annihilate Israel—not to live in peace beside it.”
Still, foreign pressure to alleviate Gaza’s humanitarian crisis has forced Israel to take initial steps. On Friday, Israeli officials confirmed that they will coordinate with Jordan and the United Arab Emirates to deploy aid drops into Gaza in the coming days.
Alexandra Sharp is the World Brief writer at Foreign Policy
