President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have said they believe a ceasefire with Hamas is “very close” to being secured. 

“I will tell you we’re getting very close to a deal,” Trump said in response to a question from Fox News Senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy on Wednesday. “I don’t know if it’s secret or not secret, but doesn’t matter to me – secrets fine if it gets us to where we want to be, we want to have a ceasefire. 

“We want to have peace. We want to get the hostages back. And I think we’re close to doing it,” he added. 

The exact hiccups in the negotiations remain unclear, though disagreements over Israel’s continued military presence in the Gaza Strip and a day-after plan for the Palestinians have long plagued the talks. 

Bartiromo also questioned Netanyahu over frustrations that have mounted between the international community, Israel and the U.S. over the distribution of aid through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) instead of the United Nations. 

“We have our own distribution system that has been established to prevent Hamas from stealing the food that is supposed to go to the population,” Netanyahu said. “They steal it, they take it for themselves, and the remainder they hike the prices and basically extort the Palestinian population in order to use it to continue recruiting people to their war machine.”

Palestinians carry bags and boxes containing food and humanitarian aid packages delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, June 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Netanyahu said he does not want to give up the distribution system that has worked to ensure Hamas is not stealing aid and using it as a black market commodity to extort civilians and a terrorist recruitment tool.

While the U.N. has been continuing to distribute aid in Gaza, its convoys have repeatedly been attacked and ransacked by suspected Hamas terrorists. 

The Israeli prime minister said he expects the U.N. and GHF will be distributing aid under the 60-day plan.