Trump gives Hamas ultimatum to accept Gaza plan or face ‘all hell’


Trump gives Hamas ultimatum

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has given Palestinian group Hamas until Sunday evening to accept his peace proposal to end the nearly two-year war in the Gaza Strip with Israel, warning that otherwise “all hell” would break out.

“An agreement must be reached with Hamas by Sunday evening at SIX (6) PM, Washington DC time,” Trump posted on social media on Friday. “Every country has signed on! If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all hell, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas.”

The proposal outlines an immediate ceasefire, an exchange of all hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners in Israel, a phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, Hamas’s disarmament, and the formation of a transitional government under an international body.

Trump presented the plan to leaders and officials from Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on the sidelines of last week’s United Nations General Assembly. Mediators Qatar and Egypt later shared the 20-point document with Hamas after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared alongside Trump at the White House and endorsed the initiative, saying it met Israel’s war aims.

Hamas weighs response

Hamas was not part of the negotiations leading up to the plan, which calls on the group to disarm — a demand it has long rejected.

A Hamas official told Reuters late on Thursday that a final response had not been made. “Intensive discussion is under way,” the official said, adding that Hamas had been consulting Arab mediators, Turkey and other Palestinian factions to shape “the Palestinian response.”

Trump had earlier given Hamas “three to four days” to accept the plan. On Friday, he described the group as a “ruthless and violent threat in the Middle East.”

In his post, Trump also referred to Israel’s military push into Gaza City, saying remaining Hamas fighters were “trapped” and would be “hunted down, and killed” without a deal. He warned “innocent Palestinians” to move to safer areas, though the United Nations has said repeatedly that nowhere in Gaza is safe. Israel blocked Gaza City’s main road on Thursday, telling residents to flee south in what it described as a last chance to escape a major offensive.

UN calls plan ‘a window of opportunity’

Gaza City and surrounding areas have been suffering from famine, which aid agencies warn could worsen. Israel halted aid deliveries for 11 weeks from March to mid-May and says it is now improving access, though the UN and relief groups say far more is needed.

“President Trump’s Gaza initiative opens a window of opportunity. It offers both a chance for Palestinians to receive life-saving aid at the scale urgently needed, and to bring the hostages home,” UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said in a statement. “We are ready and eager to act.”

The plan envisions humanitarian assistance being distributed directly by neutral international organisations. The UN says it has 170,000 metric tons of aid ready to enter.

Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack in which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli figures. Since then, Israel’s campaign has killed more than 66,000 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to Gaza’s health authorities.

Trump said in his post that “more than 25,000 Hamas soldiers have already been killed.” Hamas rarely discloses casualty figures among its fighters.

Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has said that Pakistan continues to follow the vision of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah on Palestine, rejecting reports that US President Donald Trump’s proposed 20-point plan reflected Pakistan’s stance.

Earlier, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed full support to the Gaza peace plan that Donald Trump has presented saying “a peaceful resolution of the Palestine issue was essential in bringing political stability and economic growth to the region”.

Addressing the National Assembly, Dar said that peace in Gaza could not be achieved through statements alone, but through concrete steps.

Dar recalled that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif raised the issues of Kashmir, Palestine, climate change, and Israel’s actions in his address to the UN General Assembly.

He said that while the UN, the European Union, and Arab states had failed to halt the violence in Gaza, Muslim countries sought to engage Washington as a last resort.

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