President Donald Trump has ramped up expectations around a possible 60-day ceasefire in the war in Gaza after he said Thursday that a response from Hamas was expected within the next day.

Asked by a reporter whether Hamas has agreed to the latest ceasefire and hostage deal, Trump replied “We’ll see what happens, we’re going to know over the next 24 hours.” Qatar put forward an updated proposal to Israel and Hamas earlier this week, and Israel accepted it on Tuesday.

Hamas says it will announce its decision after consultations with other Palestinian factions, without specifying how long this might take.

Trump has pushed hard for a ceasefire, saying on Tuesday that Israel had “agreed to the necessary conditions” to finalize a deal for a 60-day cessation of hostilities. In a post on Truth Social, Trump warned Hamas to accept the proposal as well.

“I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE,” he said, thanking Qatar and Egypt for their role in advancing the proposal.

The latest proposal does not differ markedly from previous plans put forward by negotiators, maintaining the same number of hostages released and the same length of the earlier temporary ceasefire. But the proposal offers two key concessions to Hamas demands, spacing out the release of hostages over the entire timeline and offering stronger guarantees – in this case, directly from Trump – that the ceasefire will continue beyond 60 days even if a comprehensive agreement to end the war has not yet been reached.

The plan calls for the release of 10 living Israeli hostages and 18 deceased hostages spread out over the full timeline, according to a source familiar with the negotiations who shared details of the plan.

On the first day of the ceasefire, Hamas would release eight living hostages. In exchange, Israel would release an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, and withdraw its forces from pre-agreed locations in northern Gaza. Israel would then withdraw from parts of southern Gaza on the seventh day, following the release of a number of deceased hostages.

Israel and Hamas would also immediately enter into negotiations for a permanent ceasefire once the initial truce goes into effect. A total of 50 hostages remain in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive.

The last two living hostages would be released on the fiftieth day of the ceasefire. Meanwhile, five deceased hostages would be released on the seventh and thirtieth days, while the final eight would be released on the final day.

Under the deal, hostages will be released without ceremonies or fanfare at Israel’s request – unlike during the last truce, when Hamas staged public propaganda events around hostage transfers that sparked outrage in Israel.

Humanitarian aid will immediately begin to flow into Gaza at the start of the ceasefire, including from the United Nations and from other aid organizations, similar to the previous ceasefire which began on January 19.

On Thursday, Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander met with Trump in Washington and said he told the president that he worries continued fighting in Gaza endangers the remaining hostages. A statement from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum after the meeting quoted Alexander as telling Trump, “I fear continued fighting endangers the hostages and hope you can achieve another historic breakthrough — a comprehensive deal to free them all, all 50 hostages. You are the person who can make it happen.”

Hamas announced on Friday that it had “submitted a positive response” to a proposal for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, opening the path toward a deal to halt the conflict after months of failed efforts.

Hamas has “submitted a positive response to the mediators, and the movement is fully prepared to immediately enter into a round of negotiations regarding the mechanism for implementing this framework,” the group said in a statement.

Israel had previously accepted the US-sponsored framework, which means the two sides are now expected to enter final, detailed negotiations before a ceasefire agreement is officially reached.

Bishara Bahbah, a Palestinian-American interlocutor who has been in direct discussions with Hamas, praised the group’s response on Facebook, saying, “We are now much closer to ending this cursed war.”

He said Hamas had introduced “amendments it deemed necessary.”

“In my view, these amendments will not prevent reaching a ceasefire agreement within the coming week, God willing,” he said.

An Israeli source familiar with the matter said earlier Friday that Israel had expected a positive response from Hamas, with the rewording of a few points in the proposal language. The source said these changes were not expected to derail the ceasefire efforts.

Of the 50 Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza, the proposal calls for the release of 10 living hostages and 18 deceased during the ceasefire. On the first day of the ceasefire, Hamas would release eight living hostages in exchange for an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Following the release, Israel would withdraw from parts of northern Gaza, and the two sides would begin negotiations toward a permanent ceasefire.

The release of the hostages is to take place without any Hamas ceremonies or fanfare. The remaining hostages would be released on four more dates specific in the proposal.

Efforts to secure a ceasefire intensified following the 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran last month. Qatar, a key negotiator, immediately launched a new round of indirect talks between Israel and Hamas to find a “middle ground” based on previous proposals.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Families are demanding answers after authorities in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, discovered that 383 bodies had been stored in a crematorium for months and years after the people had died.

Norma Guardado Meraz was one of many locals who visited the Chihuahua Prosecutor’s Office this week to get more information about its investigation into the discovery, fearing that among the bodies are those of their relatives.

The discovery was made on June 26 after several municipal police officers found a hearse containing two bodies and other corpses piled up in a room in the building’s courtyard.

Prosecutor César Jáuregui said the pile of bodies had accumulated since 2020, suggesting that the Plenitud crematorium had failed to perform services it had been subcontracted for by six funeral homes.

She and her family want clarity about the fate of the remains of her mother, María Nieves Meraz, who died three years ago and was mourned at one of the funeral homes that had subcontracted the crematorium.

Another resident, Javier Ramírez, went to the prosecutor’s office Wednesday to determine if the remains he had received actually belong to his father, who died two months ago and whose wake was held at one of the other funeral homes.

The office said Tuesday that of the 383 bodies found, 218 were men, 149 were women and the gender of 16 could not been identified.

As the case moves forward, the prosecutor’s office is promising a thorough investigation and says it encourages more people to come forward and demand answers.

A man set the door of a synagogue alight and a group of protesters stormed an Israeli restaurant in Melbourne on Friday night, the latest in a wave of antisemitic attacks in Australian cities.

About 20 people were inside the synagogue in the downtown area of East Melbourne when a man poured flammable liquid on the front door of the synagogue on Albert Street before setting it on fire, Victoria state police said.

The group was having Shabbat dinner, marking the beginning of the Jewish day of rest, when the attack took place at 8 p.m. local time, Alex Ryvchin, the co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), wrote on X.

No one was injured and firefighters extinguished the small blaze, police said, adding that the perpetrator, who remains unidentified, fled the scene.

Just over 1 kilometer to the west on Hardware Lane – one of the city’s most popular areas for restaurants and nightlife – about 20 protesters stormed into an Israeli restaurant, chanting slogans, police said. A 28-year-old was arrested for hindering police, and has been released on a summons.

Speaking at a press briefing, Acting Commander Zorka Dunstan of Victoria state police said officers were also investigating a third attack early Saturday morning in which three cars were set on fire near a business in the northeastern suburb of Greensborough.

Suspects spray-painted the cars and the walls of the buildings, she said, adding that the business has been targeted by pro-Palestine protesters in the past.

The security investigation unit, part of the counter-terrorism command, is investigating all the incidents, though police have yet to declare whether they constitute a terrorism incident, Dunstan said.

“We will examine the intent and the ideology of the persons or person involved,” she said.

Many among Australia’s 117,000-strong Jewish population are anxious after spate of antisemitic attacks in the country’s two biggest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, since late last year – including arson attacks on synagogues, and swastikas scrawled on buildings and cars.

The latest attacks drew condemnation from officials and community leaders on Saturday.

Denouncing the synagogue attack on X Saturday, Premier of Victoria Jacinta Allan said it was “designed to shatter…peace and traumatize Jewish families.”

“That it happened on Shabbat makes it all the more abhorrent,” she added, noting that children and women were among the people present at the venue.

“Any attack on a place of worship is an act of hate, and any attack on a Jewish place of worship is an act of anti-Semitism,” she said.

Melbourne’s Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece described the attack as “shocking,” according to Nine News.

“I cannot condemn this sort of behavior in stronger terms… this is a city of peace and tolerance, and we will not stand for this,” he said.

Ryvchin, from the ECAJ, urged the nation to condemn “these deplorable crimes.”

“Those responsible cannot be reasoned with or appeased. They must be confronted with the full force of the law,” he wrote on X.

As Denmark takes over the presidency of the European Union, Danes are more strongly pro-European than at any time in the past two decades – a shift in sentiment that can at least partly be attributed to US President Donald Trump.

An eye-opening survey published in March by Berlingske, a Danish daily newspaper, said 41% of Danes now see the United States as a threat. It also said 92% of respondents either “agree” or “mostly agree” that the Nordic nation needs to rely more on the European Union than the US for its security.

Given the recent tensions between Washington and Copenhagen, those statistics may not be surprising.

Since his return to the White House, Trump has spoken frequently and aggressively about Greenland, an autonomous crown dependency of Denmark, saying he would like the US to own it.

Vice President JD Vance and members of the Trump family have made what many see as provocative trips to and statements about the world’s largest island.

After Vance’s visit to the US military’s Pituffik Space Base in Greenland in March, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen pushed back on his claim that Denmark isn’t doing enough for defense in the Arctic, calling her country “a good and strong ally.”

Back in Trump’s first administration, too, Greenland was a hot topic. In 2019, he reportedly accused Frederiksen of making a “nasty” and “absurd” statement in discussions about the island.

Sinking trust in Trump

“Now we have a different Denmark,” she said.

“Things have dramatically changed in Denmark and our attitude toward Europe,” she said, without mentioning the president’s name directly.

She was also very clear that Denmark feels a sense of disappointment in its longtime ally.

Denmark would still like to have a strong relationship with the US, Bjerre said, “but in a situation where the US is closing itself more around itself… is threatening us with tariffs and also criticizing Europe, our freedom of expression and all sorts of other things. Of course, in that situation, we have to be stronger on our own.”

She added, “The world order, as we have known it since the Second World War, is changing and we have to deliver to that geopolitical new situation that we are standing in.”

The minister also referenced the historic ties and shared past experiences of both nations, expressing a degree of frustration, if not anger, about how that relationship has changed.

“You could not put a paper in between the US and Denmark, we have always supported the US. We went into war with our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan… Seeing us, as a country, being criticized for not being a good ally, of course, that does affect our opinion,” Bjerre said.

Per capita, Denmark lost the second-highest number of soldiers of all the US-led coalition partners fighting in Afghanistan. In total, 43 Danish soldiers died, equating to 7.82 deaths per million citizens. The US, by comparison, lost 7.96 soldiers per million.

“We used to be a very, very transatlantic country… that has plummeted,” said Friis. “There is now the feeling… we simply cannot trust him,” she said – the “him” being Trump.

‘Huge’ change in tone

The shift in Danes’ opinions coincides with Denmark taking up the rotating, six-month EU presidency.

Denmark has long worried about the EU wading into Danes’ lives, fearing in particular for its relatively unregulated labor market. It has various opt-outs on EU policy, including not joining the EU’s single currency, the euro.

“We do things differently to other European nations,” said Bjerre.

Politicians and citizens used to fear that the EU “would become too dominating and too powerful,” Friis said, but now “the fear is the complete opposite.” Danes feel the bloc is “too weak” to deal with Putin to the East and Trump to the West, she said.

Friis also described the prime minister’s shift in tone as “huge,” saying Frederiksen used to be “very skeptical towards the EU.”

In June, Frederiksen announced that Denmark was quitting the so-called “Frugal Four,” an informal group of EU nations that had pushed to limit common spending, saying that “the most important thing is to rearm Europe.”

Laying out Denmark’s priorities for the EU presidency later that month, she reiterated that view, saying: “Now more than ever Europe needs to step up and stand together. We have to build an even stronger Europe, a more secure Europe where we are able to protect our democracies.”

EU-commissioned, biannual polls show a clear trend of increased trust in the EU over the past two decades, rising from 46% in spring 2005 to 74% this past spring. Steeper increases can be seen during Trump’s first term, after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and as Trump’s second term began.

The war in Ukraine has had a significant influence on Danish views on the EU, Friis said.

“The very fact that you had a war in our backyard has sort of created a completely new sort of atmosphere around security in Denmark, people are worried. People are prepping now because they’re scared about what could happen also to our own security,” she said.

Bjerre said Copenhagen’s EU presidency would prioritize a “stronger Europe and a changing world,” with Europe having a real focus on security.

Denmark takes the European helm, then, at a time of increasingly pro-European sentiment among its own population and a wider recognition in Europe that it must do more to stand on its own. The problem is that some of Europe’s most pressing issues – Ukraine, trade tariffs and security – mean talking to the US and Trump. And at the moment, there may not be much love lost between the two.