WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump on Friday suggested that a deal to end Israel's nearly two-year war on the besieged Gaza Strip is within reach.

Trump said the agreement is "very close" to being finalized, just days after he convened a meeting on Gaza with regional leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. Trump said Thursday that he called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is slated to visit the White House Monday, to discuss the situation.

"It's looking like we have a deal on Gaza, and we'll let you know," Trump told reporters at the White House as he was preparing to depart for the Ryder Cup.

"I think it's a deal that will get the hostages back. It's going to be a deal that will end the war. It's going to be a deal which, it's going to be peace," he added.

The Israeli army has killed more than 65,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in Gaza since October 2023. Months of air and ground assaults have left Gaza largely uninhabitable, pushing its population into displacement, famine and diseases.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said Friday that one in three children in Gaza had no food at all over the past 24 hours due to the lack of supplies caused by Israel's ongoing blockade.

Since March 2, Israel has closed all crossings into Gaza, preventing food, medicine, and humanitarian aid from entering, plunging the enclave into famine despite the buildup of relief trucks at its borders.

Israel occasionally allows in very limited amounts of aid, but these fail to meet even the minimum needs of the starving population. Most trucks, moreover, are looted by gangs that Gaza’s authorities say are protected by Israel.

On Aug. 22, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Global Initiative declared famine in Gaza City and warned it would spread to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis by the end of September.