Hamas responded to the Trump administration's proposal for a peace deal in Gaza on Friday afternoon, saying that it would agree to release all remaining Israeli hostages and negotiate other details of the deal.
Earlier story:
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he’s giving Hamas until 6 p.m. Sunday to accept the ceasefire proposal his administration offered this week to end the war in Gaza.
“If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas,” Trump wrote Friday in a lengthy post on Truth Social.
Trump said earlier this week that he would give Hamas three to four days to respond to the plan, which Israel has backed. Qatar, which had been helping facilitate peace efforts, said it was delivered to a Hamas delegation on Monday evening by Qatari and Egyptian officials.
The president claimed 25,000 members of Hamas have been killed following the militant group’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel. He also suggested that he would “give the word” on whether to further decimate the group, though U.S. forces are not in Gaza.
“Most of the rest are surrounded and MILITARILY TRAPPED, just waiting for me to give the word, ‘GO,’ for their lives to be quickly extinguished. As for the rest, we know where and who you are, and you will be hunted down, and killed. I am asking that all innocent Palestinians immediately leave this area of potentially great future death for safer parts of Gaza,” he said.
But then he said that Hamas would be given “one last chance!”
“THIS DEAL ALSO SPARES THE LIVES OF ALL REMAINING HAMAS FIGHTERS!” he wrote. “The details of the document are known to the WORLD, and it is a great one for ALL! We will have PEACE in the Middle East one way or the other. The violence and bloodshed will stop. RELEASES THE HOSTAGES, ALL OF THEM, INCLUDING THE BODIES OF THOSE THAT ARE DEAD, NOW!”
Trump unveiled the 20-point peace proposal on Monday during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House. The plan’s key parts include the simultaneous release of all 48 living and dead hostages held in Gaza, a requirement for Hamas to decommission their weapons, a phased withdrawal of Israeli troops from the territory, an influx of humanitarian aid and the installation of a civilian governing authority for Palestinians. A host of nations in the region, including Qatar, Egypt and Turkey, also offered support for the proposal.
Speaking to the press corps with Trump on Monday, Netanyahu warned that if Hamas rejects the plan or accepts it and doesn’t follow through on its promises, “then Israel will finish the job by itself.”
“This can be done the easy way, or it can be done the hard way, but it will be done,” Netanyahu said. “We prefer the easy way, but it has to be done.”
The president said that if Hamas doesn’t agree to the deal, Israel would have “my full backing to finish the job of destroying the threat of Hamas, but I hope that we’re going to have a deal for peace.”
Trump said of Hamas, “They’re the only one left. Everyone else has accepted it, but I have a feeling that we’re going to have a positive answer.”
