Closing summary
Donald Trump has said Hamas has “three or four days” to respond to his Gaza plan or face the consequences. Speaking to reporters as he left the White House on Tuesday, Trump said Israeli and Arab leaders had accepted the proposal and “we’re just waiting for Hamas”.
The United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, called on Tuesday for “all parties” to commit to the peace plan for Gaza presented by the US president, Donald Trump, a spokesperson said. “It is now crucial that all parties commit to an agreement and its implementation … he once again reiterates his call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire,” Farhan Haq, a spokesperson for Guterres, said in a statement.
Hamas has said it will review the outline of the Gaza peace plan presented by Donald Trump in Washington yesterday, as leaders across the Middle East and elsewhere voiced support for the proposal, which comes after almost two years of relentless violence. In Israel, media and politicians broadly welcomed Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement, made at a joint press conference with Trump, that he supported the 20-point plan, which meets many of Israel’s principal demands.
If Palestinian militants Hamas reject US president Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan Israel will “finish the job” and bring home all the remaining hostages, Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon said on Tuesday. “If they reject the plan, Israel will finish the job, either the easy way or the hard way. Their return cannot wait. This is not only a road map to bring them back. It is also a plan to end the tyranny of terror that was unleashed on 7 October,” Danon told an event at the UN.
The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said on Telegram that the death toll from Israel’s military campaign has risen to 66,097 deaths and 168,536 injuries since 7 October 2023. It said 42 deaths and 190 injuries were recorded in the past 24 hours, though victims remain under rubble and in streets that emergency crews have been unable to reach.
Qatar has said it had received clear security assurances from the US and a commitment from Israel not to attack it again, after a call a day earlier between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. Foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari told a press conference the pledges came “under the guarantee of the US president” and that Doha was “content with the security assurances” it had been given after attacks by Israel on Qatar, according to AFP.
Armed militia and gangs supported by Israel are seizing control of parts of Gaza, exacerbating its humanitarian crisis and potentially threatening any efforts to bring order if US president Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza takes hold. The Israeli military and security services have for several months been arming and training groups in Gaza as local auxiliary forces and as an alternative to Hamas, but the strategy appears to have gathered momentum in recent weeks.
The Spanish government, which has been one of the most vociferous European critics of Israel’s Gaza offensive, has welcomed the plan and urged both sides to commit to ending the violence. “Spain calls for every negotiating effort to end the war and reiterates its demand for a permanent ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and the massive entry of humanitarian aid to halt the suffering that has already lasted too long,” the foreign ministry said in a statement on Tuesday morning.
But Spain’s leftwing labour minister and deputy prime minister, Yolanda Díaz, has blasted Trump’s plan in a video posted on Bluesky. “Trump and Netanyahu’s plan for Palestine isn’t a peace plan; it’s an imposition. It’s an ultimatum, dressed up as an agreement, which comes without any guarantees and without any timeframe for a Palestinian state,” she said.
The Kremlin has said it supported Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza. “Russia always supports and welcomes any efforts by President Trump aimed at ending this ongoing tragedy,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters, including AFP, on a daily briefing call.
The emergence of Tony Blair as a potential Gaza interim consul and member of Donald Trump’s “board of peace” marks his latest reinvention as a would-be power broker in the Middle East.
As a key architect of the disastrous invasion of Iraq, a promoter of a simplistic interpretation of Islamist extremism as the world’s main security challenge and a figure who has been accused of intertwining his own business interests with his political advocacy, he is in some ways a perfect fit for the new Trump era.
What is less clear is what the former UK prime minister can meaningfully bring to one of the world’s most intractable problems, outside overarching self-belief.
Blair’s role as an architect of the Good Friday agreement ending the Troubles in Northern Ireland is much mentioned, but his track record in the Middle East is far more controversial.
His years in Jerusalem working for the Quartet on the Middle East – representing the UN, EU, US and Russia – were viewed at best as a moderate success by diplomats while Palestinians saw him as an impediment to their efforts to advance statehood.
He was appointed with the backing of the then US president, George Bush, and the former UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, but the EU and Russia were less enthusiastic. Blair’s role from the beginning was somewhat toothless, focused largely on economic development, and Palestinian officials complained he was more sympathetic to Israel.
If Palestinian militants Hamas reject US president Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan Israel will “finish the job” and bring home all the remaining hostages, Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon said on Tuesday.
“If they reject the plan, Israel will finish the job, either the easy way or the hard way. Their return cannot wait. This is not only a road map to bring them back. It is also a plan to end the tyranny of terror that was unleashed on 7 October,” Danon told an event at the UN to mark the upcoming two-year anniversary of the Hamas attack that triggered the war in the Palestinian territory.
An elderly Palestinian woman passes destroyed buildings after an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City earlier today.
UN chief calls for 'all parties' to commit to Trump's Gaza deal
The United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, called on Tuesday for “all parties” to commit to the peace plan for Gaza presented by the US president, Donald Trump, a spokesperson said.
“It is now crucial that all parties commit to an agreement and its implementation … he once again reiterates his call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire,” Farhan Haq, a spokesperson for Guterres, said in a statement.
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Israel-backed militia groups potentially threaten new peace plan for Gaza
Armed militia and gangs supported by Israel are seizing control of parts of Gaza, exacerbating its humanitarian crisis and potentially threatening any efforts to bring order if US president Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza takes hold.
The Israeli military and security services have for several months been arming and training groups in Gaza as local auxiliary forces and as an alternative to Hamas, but the strategy appears to have gathered momentum in recent weeks.
The so-called Popular Forces, under a commander called Yasser abu Shabab, have been operating in the south of the territory for several months, coordinating closely with Israeli forces around controversial aid distributions sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an opaque US- and Israel-backed private organisation.
Now up to a dozen new militia have now emerged across much of Gaza, in addition to the Popular Forces.
“People fear Hamas here, and Hamas was always betting that there won’t be any alternative to replace them in Gaza, but now I’m telling you, today, there is an alternative force to Hamas. It could be me or Abu Shabab or anyone else, but alternatives today exist,” said Hossam al-Astal, the leader of one newly formed force that is operating in the area of Khan Younis, the southern Gaza City.
“I’m sorry, I will work with the devil himself if it helps me to protect my city. [Hamas] must leave Gaza,” Al-Astal told the Guardian last week.
The proliferation of armed militia in Gaza is causing further problems for aid organisations already struggling with Israeli restrictions and massive logistic obstacles.
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Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has posted on X today, welcoming Trump’s plan for Gaza:
We welcome President Donald J. Trump’s announcement of a comprehensive plan to end the Gaza conflict.
It provides a viable pathway to long term and sustainable peace, security and development for the Palestinian and Israeli people, as also for the larger West Asian region. We hope that all concerned will come together behind President Trump’s initiative and support this effort to end conflict and secure peace.
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Starmer welcomes Donald Trump's peace proposal in Gaza
Giving the keynote speech at the Labour party conference in Liverpool, UK prime minster Keir Starmer said he welcomes the “US initiative to bring peace” to the Middle East:
I strongly support efforts to end the fighting, release every hostage and urgently scale up aid into Gaza.
All sides must now come together to bring this initiative into reality, because we must restart the hope of a two-state solution, a safe and secure Israel alongside the long promised Palestinian state, a state that this country now recognises.
Trump gives Hamas ‘three or four days’ to respond to Gaza plan
Donald Trump has said Hamas has “three or four days” to respond to his Gaza plan or face the consequences.
Speaking to reporters as he left the White House on Tuesday, Trump said Israeli and Arab leaders had accepted the proposal and “we’re just waiting for Hamas”.
Hamas is either going to be doing it or not, and if it’s not, it’s going to be a very sad end.
Asked if there was room for negotiations, Trump replied: “Not much.”
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Hamas has said it will review the outline of the Gaza peace plan presented by Donald Trump in Washington yesterday, as leaders across the Middle East and elsewhere voiced support for the proposal, which comes after almost two years of relentless violence.
In Israel, media and politicians broadly welcomed Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement, made at a joint press conference with Trump, that he supported the 20-point plan, which meets many of Israel’s principal demands.
Hamas officials said they would discuss the proposal internally and with other Palestinian factions before responding.
A Hamas source told AFP news agency that the group had “begun a series of consultations within its political and military leaderships, both inside Palestine and abroad”, which would “take several days due to the complexities of communication among leadership members and movements”.
The 20-point plan calls for the disarmament of Hamas and bans it from any future political role in Gaza. It requires the militant Islamist organisation to release the 48 Israeli hostages it still holds – of whom fewer than half are thought still to be alive – within 72 hours of a ceasefire coming into effect, but offers the gradual withdrawal of Israeli military forces to a buffer zone along the perimeter and a surge in humanitarian aid, desperately needed by the 2.3 million inhabitants of the devastated territory.
It also requires Israel to release more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including many serving life sentences.
Some pictures coming out of Gaza today:
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Spain’s leftwing labour minister and deputy prime minister, Yolanda Díaz, has blasted Trump’s plan in a video posted on Bluesky.
“Trump and Netanyahu’s plan for Palestine isn’t a peace plan; it’s an imposition. It’s an ultimatum, dressed up as an agreement, which comes without any guarantees and without any timeframe for a Palestinian state,” she said.
“This plan has been put together without Palestine. It ignores its institutions and its people, and it proposes turning Gaza into a protectorate overseen by the US and with Israel setting the pace.”
In marked contrast to Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez – who has welcomed the plan (see post 09.00), saying the time has come “to put an end to so much suffering” – Díaz said that supporting the plan was “to continue perpetuating the illegal occupation and the genocide of the Palestinian people.”
Díaz, the founder of the Sumar alliance that is the junior partner in Sánchez’s socialist-led coalition government, has been an outspoken critic of Israel’s Gaza offensive and has accused it of carrying out genocide.
Last month, Israel said that Díaz would be denied entry to the country in retaliation for what its foreign ministry has termed her “anti-Israel and antisemitic vision”.
In a little noticed part of the 20-point Trump peace plan, the Palestinian Authority (PA) will only be considered to have reformed itself and be eligible to run what has been described as ‘New Gaza’ if it drops all involvement in the legal cases being taken against the US or Israel at the international court of justice (ICJ) and the international criminal court (ICC).
The ICJ is still examining whether Israel has or is committing a genocide in Gaza, as well as whether Israel has breached the UN’s immunities by throwing the UN Palestinians right agency Unrwa out of Gaza.
The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The requirement that the PA drop all legal actions against the US and Israel in all tribunals is only mentioned in the plan when the document says the PA will only be able to take over the administration of Gaza from technocrats when it has “completed its reform programme, as outlined in various proposals, including president Trump’s peace plan in 2020”.
The 2020 peace plan stated it was a requirement that the PA take no action, and shall dismiss all pending actions, against the state of Israel, the United States (US) and any of their citizens before the international criminal court the international court of justice and all other tribunals.
It also required the PA to take no action against any Israeli or US citizen before Interpol or any non-Israeli or US – as applicable – legal system.
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Gaza death toll rises to 66,097
The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said on Telegram that the death toll from Israel’s military campaign has risen to 66,097 deaths and 168,536 injuries since 7 October 2023.
It said 42 deaths and 190 injuries were recorded in the past 24 hours, though victims remain under rubble and in streets that emergency crews have been unable to reach.
The ministry also reported that since March 2025 there have been more than 13,000 deaths and over 56,000 injuries, while hundreds have died from famine and malnutrition.
Mustafa Barghouti, the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, has said there is “nothing that would guarantee peace” in Trump’s plan for Gaza.
This plan is totally biased to the Israeli side. They call it a peace plan, but there is nothing that would guarantee peace, because it doesn’t talk about ending the occupation. The main cause of the problems we have is the system of apartheid and oppression of the Palestinian people.
There is no guarantee that once Israel gets back it’s captives that Netanyahu will not reactivate the war. There is no clear plan of Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
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Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, has said education must be included in any agreement to end the war in Gaza. In a post on X, Lazzarini said:
The education of children must be part of any agreement to end the war in Gaza. The proposed plan must offer some hope to more than 660,000 children out of school for the third year.
Bringing them back to learning should be a collective priority to promote lasting peace & stability.
Qatar says it has US and Israeli assurances on security as it prepares Hamas talks
Qatar has said it had received clear security assurances from the US and a commitment from Israel not to attack it again, after a call a day earlier between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari told a press conference the pledges came “under the guarantee of the US president” and that Doha was “content with the security assurances” it had been given after attacks by Israel on Qatar, according to AFP.
Al-Ansari also confirmed that Qatar would hold further talks on Tuesday with Hamas negotiators and Turkey to discuss Trump’s Gaza plan. He said the Hamas delegation had promised to study the proposal “responsibly” and that another meeting, with Turkish participation, was scheduled later in the day.
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Spain to investigate firms tied to occupied territories
The Spanish government has said it will investigate companies that advertise products or services that originate from the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.
The measure follows the approval of a decree last week that bans the promotion of such goods and services in Spain to prevent firms from benefiting from the occupation, the consumer ministry said in a statement.
Consumer affairs minister Pablo Bustinduy said earlier this year his office would use “all necessary resources” to ensure no company operating in Spain profits from the occupation.
“No firm should have its balance sheet stained with the blood of the Palestinian people,” the statement quoted him as saying at an event in July.
Spain has already announced a law formalising the existing, de facto arms embargo on Israel and a ban on the use of Spanish ports and airspace to transport fuel or weapons to the Israeli military. Sánchez also said those “directly involved in the genocide” would not be allowed into Spain and announced increases in his country’s humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Russia backs Trump’s Gaza plan
The Kremlin has said it supported Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza.
“Russia always supports and welcomes any efforts by President Trump aimed at ending this ongoing tragedy,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters, including AFP, on a daily briefing call.
“Of course, we want this plan to be implemented and for it to help bring events in the Middle East to a peaceful conclusion,” he added.
Hamas: Trump's plan ‘completely biased to Israel’
A source close to Hamas told Reuters the plan was “completely biased to Israel” and imposed “impossible conditions” that aimed to eliminate the group. The Palestinian official, who asked not to be named, said:
What Trump has proposed is the full adoption of all Israeli conditions, which do not grant the Palestinian people or the residents of the Gaza Strip any legitimate rights.
It was unclear how Hamas would word its response, as an absolute rejection may put it in collision with a group of Arab and Muslim countries which welcomed the plan.
An AFP source close to Hamas said that it “could take several days” to review Trump’s proposal for ending the war. They said:
Hamas has begun a series of consultations within its political and military leaderships, both inside Palestine and abroad.
The discussions could take several days due to the complexities of communication among leadership members and movements, especially after the Israeli aggression in Doha.
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Despite Trump’s known opposition to a Palestinian state, UK cabinet minister Wes Streeting believes the President’s plan for Gaza could help overcome opposition to a two-state solution.
The health secretary told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning:
We have seen statements, words from leading Israeli government figures, which are borne out through action, which I think point to a future which is about expulsion of Palestinians from their land in Gaza.
That’s tantamount to ethnic cleansing.
We’ve heard from the Israelis unequivocally that they do not believe in a two-state solution, and they would deny to their neighbours the right to statehood that they rightly ask for themselves and expect for themselves.
And what I think the peace plan that President Trump is putting forward could do is break through that impasse, to break through that resistance to a two-state solution, which we believe is still the only solution for Israelis and for Palestinians, the only way to guarantee security that the Israelis deserve and demand and also the bright future for Palestine that they rightly deserve.
453 people, including 150 children, have died of famine and malnutrition in Gaza, according to Gaza health ministry
The Gaza health ministry has announced on Telegram that 453 people, including 150 children, have died of famine and malnutrition in Gaza.
Since the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) declared famine in Gaza in August, a further 175 deaths have been recorded, among them 35 children.
In a statement, the ministry warned of “catastrophic challenges” facing medical teams as shortages of medicines and supplies worsen.
It added that the blockade of urgent medical deliveries to hospitals is further complicating the health situation for patients and the wounded. The ministry called on all concerned parties to act urgently to guarantee the safe entry of medical supplies and prevent the collapse of healthcare services.
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Hamas yet to respond on Trump’s Gaza plan
A senior Hamas official has said the group had not yet received the proposed 20-point plan, but an official briefed on the matter later told AFP that Qatari and Egyptian mediators had met with Hamas to provide them with the document.
The Qatari prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and Egypt’s intelligence chief Hassan Mahmoud Rashad “just met with Hamas negotiators and shared the 20-point plan. The Hamas negotiators said they would review it in good faith and provide a response,” the source said, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity.
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Benjamin Netanyahu says the IDF ‘will remain in most of the territory’
In a video statement published on his Telegram channel discussing his visit to the US, Benjamin Netanyahu said the IDF “will remain in most of the territory” as part of the plan drawn up with Trump, and that Israel did “absolutely not” agree to a Palestinian state. Netanyahu said:
It was a historic visit. Instead of Hamas leading to our isolation, we turned the tables and isolated Hamas. Now the entire world, including the Arab and Muslim world, is pressuring Hamas to accept the conditions we set together with President Trump: to release all our abducted – both living and dead – while the IDF remains in most of the territory.
Asked whether he had agreed to a Palestinian state during his visit, Netanyahu said:
Absolutely not, and it is not written in the agreement either. But one thing we did say: we are firmly opposed to a Palestinian state. President Trump also said this; he said he understands our position. He also declared at the UN that such a move would be a huge reward for terror and a danger to the state of Israel. And of course, we will not agree to it.
Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, a member of Netanyahu’s coalition government, blasted the plan as a “resounding diplomatic failure”.
“In my estimation, it will also end in tears. Our children will be forced to fight in Gaza again,” he said.
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Spain welcomes Trump's plan and urges end to violence
The Spanish government, which has been one of the most vociferous European critics of Israel’s Gaza offensive, has welcomed the plan and urged both sides to commit to ending the violence.
“Spain calls for every negotiating effort to end the war and reiterates its demand for a permanent ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and the massive entry of humanitarian aid to halt the suffering that has already lasted too long,” the foreign ministry said in a statement on Tuesday morning.
It also echoed its “support for efforts to achieve lasting peace in the Middle East, based on the implementation of the two-state solution”. In a post on X, Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said the two-state solution “with both Israel and Palestine coexisting side-by-side in peace and security”, was the only possible solution.
At the beginning of September, Sánchez stepped up his scathing criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza, accusing Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of “exterminating a defenceless people” by bombing hospitals and “killing innocent boys and girls with hunger”.
King Felipe of Spain used his address at last week’s UN general assembly to beg Israel to “stop the massacre” and end its “abhorrent acts” in Gaza.
“We can’t keep silent, nor look the other way, when confronted with so much devastation, with the bombing – even of hospitals, schools and places of refuge – or with so many deaths among the civilian population, or with the famine and the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of people – to what end?”
At first glance, the 20-point plan outlined by President Trump and agreed by Benjamin Netanyahu appears more likely to end the two-year conflict in Gaza than anything we have seen so far. Trump has sunk a lot of political capital in bringing peace to the Middle East after “thousands of years”, as he put it. There is apparent deep and wide regional support and, seemingly, that of the Israeli prime minister.
But this is less a detailed roadmap than a rough back of an envelope sketch that allows an equal chance of getting badly lost as reaching the desired destination.
Hamas to 'study' Trump’s Gaza proposal before responding
Hamas said it will discuss Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza internally and with other Palestinian factions before giving a response. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has already backed the plan, but it remains unclear whether Hamas will agree – or when it might issue its reply.
The proposal demands that Hamas effectively surrender and disarm in return for an end to fighting, humanitarian aid, and the promise of reconstruction in Gaza. The territory has been devastated by the war, with the death toll now at more than 66,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Trump and Netanyahu announced the plan after talks at the White House on Monday, and support for it has been pouring in from the international community.
A senior Hamas official told the Associated Press the group will “begin studying it today” with other factions, after receiving the proposal from Egyptian and Qatari mediators. There was no indication of when Hamas might respond. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to brief the media.
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EU 'ready to contribute' to Trump's peace plan, says Ursula von der Leyen
The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has said on X that she welcomed Donald Trump’s peace proposal to end the nearly two-year-old war in Gaza:
Welcome president @realDonaldTrump’s commitment to end the war in Gaza. Encourage all parties to now seize this opportunity.
The EU stands ready to contribute.
Hostilities should end with provision of immediate humanitarian relief to the population in Gaza and with all hostages released immediately.
A two-state solution remains the only viable path to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East with the Israeli and Palestinian people living side by side, in peace and security, free from violence and terrorism.
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Involvement of former UK prime minister Tony Blair in Trump's peace plan draws criticism from Palestinian National Initiative
Under the plan, a transitional authority – overseen by an international “Board of Peace” headed by Donald Trump and including Tony Blair – would govern Gaza until the Palestinian Authority completes a programme of “reform”.
The authority, which oversees Palestinian affairs in the West Bank, welcomed Trump’s efforts and called for a comprehensive deal towards a “just peace on the basis of two-state solution”.
Blair’s presence on the board has drawn criticism. Mustafa Barghouti, the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, said: “We’ve been under British colonialism already.”
“He has a negative reputation here. If you mention Tony Blair, the first thing people mention is the Iraq war.”
The UK health secretary, Wes Streeting, has backed Tony Blair’s unspecified role in an interim authority in Gaza under Donald Trump’s peace plan.
He told Times Radio: “Now, I know there will be people who will raise eyebrows about Tony Blair in particular, and will think critically about that because of his role in the Iraq war.
“All I would say is that someone who also marched against the Iraq war, and opposed the Iraq war as I did, I also remember his legacy in Northern Ireland, and if he can bring that considerable skill set to bear of being able to broker peace between enemies, sworn enemies, then so much the better.”
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What’s in Trump’s 20-point peace plan for Gaza?
The White House peace plan for Gaza proposes an immediate end to the devastating war between Israel and Hamas that has raged in the coastal territory for nearly two years, while pointedly excluding the Palestinian militant group from any future governing role.
Assuming both sides agree to a detailed list of conditions, the end of fighting will be accompanied by the release of all Israeli hostages, both dead and alive, “within 72 hours” of Israel publicly accepting the deal.
In return for the release of hostages, Israel would release 250 Palestinians currently serving life sentences and 1,700 Palestinians in Gaza detained since the conflict started on 7 October 2023 after Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel. For every Israeli hostage whose remains are released, Israel will release the remains of 15 deceased Palestinians.
The plan does not require a full Israeli withdrawal ahead of the release of the hostages. Rather, Israeli forces would withdraw to an agreed-upon line, inside Gaza, to prepare for a hostage release. The plan says that all military operations, including aerial and artillery bombardment, will be suspended during the release process and battle lines will remain frozen until “conditions are met for the complete staged withdrawal”.
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Opening summary
Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, have delivered an ultimatum to Hamas, warning the militant group to accept their 20-point peace plan for Gaza or face the consequences.
The two leaders met at the White House in Washington on Monday then held a joint press briefing in which they hailed their proposal as a historic breakthrough and new chapter for the Middle East.
But it was clear that Hamas had not been consulted and its position on the terms remained uncertain. Mahmoud Mardawi, a Hamas official, said the group had not even received the plan at the time of the announcement, the Reuters news agency reported. It was later briefed that Qatari and Egyptian mediators met with Hamas on Monday evening to provide the group with the peace plan.
Both Trump and Netanyahu made clear that they were not offering Hamas a choice in the matter. If the group refused, Trump told reporters, “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, and if Hamas rejects the deal … Bibi, you’d have our full backing to do what you would have to do.”
The Israeli prime minister said ominously: “If Hamas rejects your plan, Mr President, or if they supposedly accept it and then do everything to counter it, 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.”
The plan was welcomed in principle by leaders in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan and Egypt, who said they were ready to cooperate with the US to ensure its implementation.
It was clear, however, that Hamas remained the key to whether Trump’s peace proposal gets off the ground. Experts and residents of Gaza said the absence of the group from negotiations and the plan’s demand that they renounce governance of the strip raised doubts about its viability.
Western European leaders welcomed Trump and Netanyahu plan. Keir Starmer called on Hamas to agree to the plan and “end the misery”, while the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said Hamas had no choice but to “follow this plan”. German chancellor Friedrich Merz said Germany was ready to “make a concrete contribution to the implementation of the plan”, describing it as the “best chance” of ending the war.
It’s 30 September 2025, it’s Matthew Pearce here, and this is the Guardian’s live coverage of all the latest developments in the Middle East.
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