President Donald Trump on Friday called on Israel to cease the bombing campaign it has waged against Gaza to permit hostages to be released by Hamas after the militant group said it agreed in part to his 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza pending some negotiations of details.
Writing on Truth Social, the president said Hamas was “ready for a lasting PEACE” based on a statement released by the group earlier in the day in which it agreed to proceed with the hostage exchange portion of the peace plan, which he’d unveiled on Monday alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.
“Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly! Right now, it’s far too dangerous to do that,” Trump said.
He also said discussions “on details to be worked out” were already in progress before adding: “This is not about Gaza alone, this is about long sought PEACE in the Middle East.”
The president’s announcement followed an earlier statement released by Hamas agreeing “to release all Israeli prisoners, both living and dead, according to the exchange formula contained in President Trump's proposal” so long as “the field conditions for the exchange are met.”
It said the group “appreciates the Arab, Islamic, and international efforts, as well as the efforts of U.S. President Donald Trump, calling for an end to the war on the Gaza Strip, the exchange of prisoners, [and] the immediate entry of aid.”
Hamas also said it had agreed to turn over the day-to-day responsibility of running Gaza, which it has controlled since 2007, “to a Palestinian body of independents (technocrats), based on Palestinian national consensus and Arab and Islamic support” while maintaining that other points in the 20-point plan regarding the future of Gaza should be discussed within a “comprehensive Palestinian national framework” that it would contribute to “with full responsibility.”
At the same time, the group’s statement did not address a provision in the plan calling on Hamas’ militant wing to permanently disarm. A senior Hamas official, Mousa Abu Marzouk, told Al Jazeera Friday that the group would not agree to do so before the Israeli occupation of the enclave ends, but said Hamas would be willing to hand over its weapons to a future Palestinian body that runs Gaza.
The group added that it “affirms its readiness to immediately enter, through the mediators, into negotiations to discuss the details."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was prepared for the implementation of the “first stage” of Trump’s plan, referring to the release of hostages.
But his office said in a statement early Saturday local time that Israel was committed to ending the war based on principles it has set out before without addressing potential gaps with Hamas.
"In light of Hamas’s response, Israel is preparing for the immediate implementation of the first stage of President Trump’s plan for the prompt release of all the hostages,” the statement from Netanyahu's office said.
“We will continue to work in full cooperation with the President and his team to bring the war to an end in accordance with the principles set out by Israel, which are aligned with President Trump’s vision."
The militant group’s announcement and Trump’s call for Israel to halt bombing came just hours after Trump posted an ultimatum giving Hamas until 6:00 p. m. Sunday to accept the deal and vowed “all hell” would break out had an accord not been reached by then.
“If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas,” he said, adding later that there would be “PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.”
He also threatened Hamas several times in his Truth Social post, claiming that its members are “surrounded and MILITARILY TRAPPED, just waiting for me to give the word, ‘GO’, for their lives to be quickly extinguished” by Israeli forces while vowing that Hamas militants “will be hunted down and killed” and urging Palestinian civilians to evacuate “this area of potentially great future death” in Gaza City “for safer parts of Gaza.”
In a video posted to his Truth Social Friday evening following his call to Israel to “stop the bombing of Gaza” the president said, “I want to thank the countries that helped me put this together, Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and so many others…this is a big day, we’ll see how it all turns out.
We have to get the final word down in concrete,” Trump said.
He added that he was looking forward to having the living hostages “come home to their parents” and said those hostages who are no longer alive will also be coming home.
“This is a very special day, maybe unprecedented in many ways … but thank you all ... Everybody was unified in wanting this war to end and seeing peace in the Middle East, and we’re very close to achieving that.”
A spokesperson for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, Majed Al Ansari, said in a statement that the government of Qatar “welcomes the announcement by the Hamas movement of its agreement to the proposal ... to end the war in Gaza [and] its readiness to release all hostages, within the framework of the exchange formula outlined in the proposal.”
He added that Doha agreed with Trump’s call for an immediate ceasefire “to facilitate the safe and swift release of hostages and to achieve rapid results that stop the bloodshed of our Palestinian brothers in the Gaza Strip.”
