US President Donald Trump Issues Weekend Deadline for the Militant Group to Endorse Gaza Ceasefire Proposal
President Donald Trump has delivered a ultimatum to the Hamas organization, demanding them to approve a proposed peace plan for the Gaza region or else face extreme repercussions.
In a post on his Truth Social channel on Friday, the President declared that an deal must be reached by Sunday evening (10 PM GMT) on Sunday.
This proposed plan involves an immediate end to fighting and the return within a short period of 20 living Israeli detainees kept by Hamas—plus the bodies of hostages believed to be dead—for a large number of imprisoned Palestinians.
Regional mediators are believed to be encouraging the organization for a agreeable answer to the plan, but a prominent group official has indicated that the armed faction is expected to refuse it.
"If this FINAL settlement is not secured, all HELL, similar to nobody has before experienced, will erupt against Hamas. WE WILL ACHIEVE STABILITY IN THE REGION ONE WAY OR THE OTHER," the President posted in the Truth Social message.
Negotiators have been in touch with the head of the group's combat unit in Gaza, who has indicated that he disagrees to the new American truce plan, as per information.
There is belief that a portion of the group's leadership in the Gulf state are open to accepting the agreement with changes—but have realized their authority restricted as they are without authority over the detainees held by the organization.
Another hurdle for some in the group is that the proposal demands them to release each and every the captives over the opening 72 hours of the halt—giving away their primary negotiating tool.
It is estimated to be forty-eight detainees still being kept in the Gazan area by the armed group, merely twenty of whom are estimated to be alive.
Israel's military initiated a operation in Gaza in retaliation to the Hamas-initiated offensive on southern Israel on a previous date, in which about 1,200 individuals were lost their lives and 251 additional individuals were taken hostage.
No fewer than thousands of residents have been lost their lives in Israeli operations in Gaza from that point, according to the territory's Hamas-run medical office.
