Hamas said on Friday it approved parts of Donald Trump’s ultimatum to end the war in Gaza, agreeing to a hostage exchange and to surrender governing power in the Gaza Strip, but insisted on further negotiations over aspects of the plan.
The group did not say whether it would lay down its arms – a key part of Trump’s proposal – and kept its response vague to other parts of the 20-part proposal unveiled on Monday.
Nevertheless Trump welcomed its statement and ordered Israel to “immediately” stop bombing Gaza. “Based on the Statement just issued by Hamas, I believe they are ready for a lasting PEACE,” he wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform.
The unprecedented order from Trump underlined that Israel and Hamas are the closest they have been in two years to achieving an end to the war in Gaza.
Hamas agrees to release all Israeli hostages as it accepts part of Trump’s plan
In a statement, Hamas said it was giving its “approval of releasing all occupation prisoners – both living and remains – according to the exchange formula contained in President Trump’s proposal, with the necessary field conditions for implementing the exchange”.
Hamas also said it was prepared to turn over “the administration of the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian body of independent technocrats based on Palestinian national consensus and supported by Arab and Islamic backing”.
US government shutdown continues as Senate funding bills again fail to pass
The US government remained shut down for a third straight day on Friday, with no signs that congressional leaders had made progress on reaching an agreement to restart operations.
Senators convened in the afternoon to vote for a fourth time on competing Democratic and Republican proposals to restart funding. Neither bill won enough support to cross the 60-vote threshold for advancement, and no lawmakers changed their votes from recent days.
Hegseth says four killed in US strike on alleged drug boat off Venezuelan coast
The United States carried out a strike against an alleged drug-trafficking boat on Friday that killed four people, the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, said, a day after the Trump administration told Congress it was entering a new “non-international armed conflict” with cartels.
Apple removes Ice tracking apps after pressure from Trump administration
Apple has removed an app from its App Store that uses crowdsourcing to flag sightings of US immigration agents after facing pressure from Donald Trump’s administration.
IceBlock, a free iPhone-only app that lets users anonymously report and monitor activity by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officers, was no longer available on Friday. The app’s developer said last month that it had more than 1 million users.
US supreme court allows Trump to strip temporary status from Venezuelans
The US supreme court on Friday allowed Donald Trump’s administration to strip legal protections from more than 300,000 Venezuelan migrants.
FBI cuts ties with two advocacy groups that track US extremism after rightwing backlash
Kash Patel, the FBI director, says the agency is cutting ties with two organizations that for decades have tracked domestic extremism and racial and religious bias, a move that follows complaints about the groups from some conservatives and prominent allies of Donald Trump.
What else happened today:
The US government has put $2.1bn in funding for infrastructure projects in Chicago on hold, Russ Vought, the office of management and budget director, said on Friday, in another jab at a Democratic-led city.
To commemorate the 250th anniversary of the US’s independence, the treasury department is mulling production of a $1 coin displaying Donald Trump with a clenched first under an American flag and the words “fight, fight, fight”.
A California resident who admitted trying to assassinate the US supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2022 was sentenced on Friday to eight years and one month in federal prison.
An Arkansas man, who was detained for a month by Ice after authorities mistook his bottle of perfume for opium, is seeking to have his visa status restored after the charges were dropped.
Catching up? Here’s what happened 2 October 2025.
