US president says it will be ‘a very sad end’ if Palestinian group does not agree to his 20-point Gaza plan.
United States President Donald Trump says Hamas has “three or four days” to respond to his Gaza ceasefire proposal, telling reporters that Israeli and Arab leaders had already accepted the plan.
“Hamas is either going to be doing it or not, and if it’s not, it’s going to be a very sad end,” Trump said at the White House on Tuesday.
Asked if there was room for negotiations on the proposal, he replied: “Not much.”
The US president also thanked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who met with Trump on Monday in Washington, DC, “for agreeing to the plan”.
Trump’s comments come a day after the White House released a 20-point document that calls for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the exchange of Israeli captives held by Hamas for Palestinians in Israeli prisons and a staged Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Under the proposal, Hamas would be required to disarm and the US would work with Arab and international partners to install a “temporary international stabilization force”.
The plan also states that Hamas would play no role in governing Gaza. Its members would be offered amnesty if they commit to “peaceful coexistence” while those wishing to leave the enclave would be granted safe passage abroad.
Trump said the plan also envisions a transitional government of Palestinian technocrats to provide daily services in Gaza, self-governance, the return of displaced residents and assurances that “the people of Gaza will not be removed”.
The renewed push to end Israel’s two-year war on Gaza comes as the Palestinian death toll has risen above 66,000 and the coastal enclave endures a humanitarian crisis.
Israeli attacks on Gaza intensified on Tuesday, killing dozens of Palestinians, including 20 people who were seeking desperately needed aid in southern and central parts of the Strip.
Get instant alerts and updates based on your interests. Be the first to know when big stories happen.
“Every minute, there is an explosion in Gaza City as Israel’s ground activities are still expanding,” Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reported from Nuseirat in central Gaza.
Sources told Al Jazeera that at least six people were killed in an Israeli drone attack in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, with Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital reporting that a child and a journalist were among the victims.
An Israeli air attack around the Nuseirat refugee camp also killed at least four people and wounded others.
As Israel’s assault on Gaza continues, Hamas’s negotiating team has been studying Trump’s plan, Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani told Al Jazeera that several points in the proposal require clarification and negotiation.
But he said he hoped that all parties would “view the plan constructively and seize the opportunity to end the war”.
“We explained to Hamas during our meeting yesterday that our primary goal is stopping the war,” Sheikh Mohammed said on Tuesday. “Hamas acted responsibly and promised to study the plan.”
For its part, Fatah, the Palestinian political faction that dominates the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the occupied West Bank, said it welcomed US efforts to end the war and protect civilians.
According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, Fatah said it was ready to cooperate with all parties to secure a ceasefire, allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, ensure the release of captives and Palestinian prisoners, and establish international mechanisms to safeguard Palestinians.
The group also reiterated PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s pledge to hold elections within a year of the war’s end.
But senior Fatah official Abbas Zaki condemned the US proposal as a “document of surrender” imposed without Palestinian consent.
He warned that accepting it would “entrench humiliation, legitimise occupation and fragment Palestinian unity” and accused Washington and Israel of seeking to “liquidate the Palestinian cause”.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the UN chief welcomed the US efforts and urged “all parties [to] commit to an agreement and its implementation”.
“The Secretary-General reiterates that our priority must be to ease the tremendous suffering caused by this conflict,” Farhan Haq said in a statement.
Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna said Trump’s comments on Tuesday demonstrate that his Gaza plan “is not an offer” but rather “an ultimatum” to Hamas.
“We’ve heard an inkling of what could happen should Hamas not comply,” Hanna noted.
“Trump has specifically told Netanyahu that if Hamas doesn’t accept, he has got to do what he’s got to do, which is effectively a green light for intensified Israeli action in Gaza.”
Sultan Barakat, a professor at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar, also described Trump’s plan for Gaza as “problematic”.
“Hamas would have to give up all the leverage at the beginning of the plan to a party they don’t trust and no one in the world trusts,” he told Al Jazeera, adding that the way Trump presented the plan alongside Netanyahu also suggests it is skewed to Israel’s advantage.
“He stood there and allowed Netanyahu to contradict the plan by saying things that clearly match his own narrow objectives,” Barakat said. “And Trump did not stop him.”(Aljazeera)
NEWS EXPRESS is Nigeria’s leading online newspaper. Published by Africa’s international award-winning journalist, Mr. Isaac Umunna, NEWS EXPRESS is Nigeria’s first truly professional online daily newspaper. It is published from Lagos, Nigeria’s economic and media hub, and has a provision for occasional special print editions. Thanks to our vast network of sources and dedicated team of professional journalists and contributors spread across Nigeria and overseas, NEWS EXPRESS has become synonymous with newsbreaks and exclusive stories from around the world.
