WASHINGTON, Oct 3: President Donald Trump said that Hamas must agree to a proposed peace deal for Gaza by Sunday evening and threatened that the group will face more attacks if it does not.
“An Agreement must be reached with Hamas by Sunday Evening at SIX (6) P.M., Washington, D.C. time,” Trump wrote Friday on social media. “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. THERE WILL BE PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.”
Trump unveiled the plan alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this week.
Trump’s proposal would place Gaza under control of a temporary governing committee led by Trump himself. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair would be involved as well.
Civilians would not be required to evacuate the territory, something that Trump had floated before. Hamas would be required to disarm and release any remaining hostages. Surviving fighters would be allowed to leave.
Hamas said Tuesday that it would study the proposal. Trump told reporters then that Hamas would have “three or four days” to respond.
Trump has struggled to force an end to the conflict, which began when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. His latest post on social media is another attempt to increase pressure on Hamas.
“Most of the rest are surrounded and MILITARILY TRAPPED, just waiting for me to give the word, ‘GO,’ for their lives to be quickly extinguished,” Trump said. “As for the rest, we know where and who you are, and you will be hunted down, and killed.”
Trump’s plan requires Hamas to return all 48 hostages – about 20 of them thought by Israel to still be alive – give up power and disarm in return for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and an end to fighting. However, the proposal, which has been accepted by Netanyahu, sets no path to Palestinian statehood.
Palestinians long for the war to end but many believe the plan favours Israel, and a Hamas official said that some elements were unacceptable, without elaborating.
Qatar and Egypt, two key mediators, said certain elements require more negotiations.
Israeli strikes kill dozens
Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least 57 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, health officials said, as Hamas was still considering its response to Trump’s proposal for ending the nearly two-year war.
At least 29 people were killed by Israeli fire in southern Gaza Thursday, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. Officials there said 14 of them were killed in an Israeli military corridor where there have been frequent shootings around the distribution of humanitarian aid.
Officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah said they had received 16 dead from Israeli strikes.
Doctors Without Borders said one of its occupational therapists was killed while waiting for a bus in Deir al-Balah, in a strike that seriously wounded four other people.
In Gaza City, health officials at Shifa Hospital said they received five bodies and several wounded people, adding that its staff are having difficulties reaching the hospital as Israel wages a major offensive aimed at occupying the city.
Other hospitals reported an additional seven deaths from Israeli fire. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which says it only strikes militants and accuses Hamas of putting civilians in danger by operating in populated areas.
Israel intercepts activist aid flotilla
Israel has meanwhile intercepted most of the more than 40 vessels in a widely watched flotilla carrying a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid for Palestinians and aiming to break Israel’s 18-year blockade of Gaza, according to organisers.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on social media that activists on board –including Greta Thunberg and several European lawmakers – were safe and were being taken to Israel to begin “procedures” for their deportation.
A far-right Israeli minister confronted the detained flotilla activists, mocking their aid initiative and accusing them of supporting “terrorism” in a video circulating on Friday. (AP)
