The death toll in Gaza surpasses 66,000 the day before Netanyahu meets with Trump.

BarcelonaThe increasingly loud international outcry against Israel's war in Gaza has not caused the Israeli army to ease its foot off the accelerator. This Sunday, at least 40 more people were killed by bombing in the Palestinian enclave, bringing the total death toll to over 66,000.

Israeli troops have been besieging Gaza City for weeks, where most of the deaths have now been recorded, although the bombing has not stopped in other parts of the Strip either. This Sunday, the Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, urged the Israeli army to withdraw from an area of the capital and halt the bombing for at least 24 hours in order to try to rescue two Israeli hostages. The organization has said it has lost communication with captives Omri Miran and Matan Angrest due to Israeli attacks in the Sabra and Tel al-Hawa neighborhoods over the past two days and has warned that their lives "are in danger."

One of the stated objectives of Benjamin Netanyahu's government to justify the military operation to invade the Gaza capital is to rescue the hostages still held in the Strip: 48 in total, of which an estimated 20 are still alive.

Trump's optimism

The day before meeting with Netanyahu at the White House, US President Donald Trump sounded optimistic about a possible ceasefire. "We have a real chance at something big in the Middle East. All aboard for something special, for the first time. We will get there!" he posted on his Truth Social network.

The two leaders will meet this Monday for the fourth time since Trump returned to the Oval Office, with the aim of moving toward an agreement that would allow a ceasefire in Gaza. This week, the United States presented a twenty-one-point document to a group of Arab countries that, among other points, stipulates that all hostages be released within forty-eight hours of an agreement and establishes a roadmap for Gaza once the war is over, to ensure that Hamas has no role in the enclave's governance.

But despite the US president's apparent optimism, Netanyahu has made it clear that "nothing is finalized yet." "We're working," he said in an interview on Fox.