US President Donald Trump Gives Sunday Time Limit for Hamas to Accept Gazan Ceasefire Proposal
President Donald Trump has delivered a deadline to Hamas, demanding them to accept a proposed ceasefire agreement for the Gaza region or else risk severe repercussions.
In a statement on his online account on Friday, Trump announced that an deal must be finalized by 6 PM EST (10 PM GMT) on the coming Sunday.
This proposed plan includes an swift end to fighting and the freeing within a short period of twenty surviving Israel detainees captured by Hamas—along with the bodies of individuals presumed to be dead—in return for hundreds of arrested Gazans.
Regional intermediaries are believed to be encouraging Hamas for a agreeable response to the plan, but a senior Hamas figure has indicated that the armed faction is probable to refuse it.
"If this ULTIMATE deal is not achieved, severe retaliation, similar to no one has ever experienced, will occur against Hamas. THERE WILL BE PEACE IN THE AREA NO MATTER WHAT," Trump posted in the social media message.
Negotiators have been in touch with the leader of the group's armed faction in the territory, who has indicated that he is opposed to the recent US truce initiative, based on sources.
Sources indicate that a portion of the group's political wing in Qatar are receptive to agreeing to the plan with adjustments—yet have found their authority limited as they lack command over the captives held by the organization.
A further obstacle for a number of in Hamas is that the proposal requires them to hand over each and every the detainees over the initial three-day period of the truce—giving away their sole leverage point.
Reports suggest to be forty-eight detainees presently being detained in the Gazan territory by the militant group, merely twenty of whom are estimated to be living.
Israel's army began a campaign in Gaza in reaction to the Hamas-led offensive on the region on October 7, 2023, in which roughly over a thousand individuals were slain and two hundred fifty-one additional individuals were seized.
No fewer than 66,288 residents have been killed in Israel's attacks in Gaza since then, as reported by the region's Hamas-run medical office.
