US President Donald Trump Sets Weekend Ultimatum for Hamas to Endorse Gazan Ceasefire Proposal
US President Trump has delivered a time limit to Hamas, calling for them to agree to a proposed peace plan for the Gaza region or risk extreme consequences.
In a message on his Truth Social channel on the end of the week, Trump declared that an agreement must be finalized by 18:00 Washington time (10 PM GMT) on the coming Sunday.
This suggested proposal involves an immediate halt to fighting and the return within 72 hours of 20 surviving Israel captives held by the group—along with the bodies of hostages believed to be dead—in return for many of arrested residents.
Regional mediators are understood to be pressing Hamas for a agreeable answer to the offer, but a high-ranking group official has stated that the militant faction is expected to refuse it.
"If this FINAL agreement is not achieved, all HELL, similar to nobody has before experienced, will occur against Hamas. WE WILL ACHIEVE STABILITY IN THE REGION NO MATTER WHAT," Trump wrote in the online message.
Mediators have been in touch with the chief of Hamas's military wing in Gaza, who has indicated that he is opposed to the recent American ceasefire proposal, based on sources.
Sources indicate that some of the group's political wing in Qatar are willing to endorsing the proposal with adjustments—but have realized their leverage limited as they lack command over the captives detained by the group.
An additional hurdle for certain in the group is that the agreement requires them to hand over each and every the hostages over the first short window of the halt—giving away their primary bargaining chip.
There are believed to be forty-eight hostages presently being held in the Palestinian territory by the militant group, just 20 of whom are estimated to be alive.
Israel's defense forces initiated a campaign in Gaza in reaction to the Hamas-initiated assault on Israeli territory on October 7, 2023, in which about twelve hundred civilians were killed and hundreds others were captured.
A minimum of sixty-six thousand two hundred eighty-eight individuals have been fatally injured in Israel's operations in the territory from that point, according to the region's Hamas-run medical office.
