”Based on the statement that Hamas has just issued, I believe they are ready for a lasting PEACE. Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the hostages out safely and quickly!”, writes Trump on Truth Social.
Hamas points out in a statement on Friday evening that an agreement must "achieve an end to the war and a complete withdrawal from the strip" (of Israeli forces).
The group also says it is ready to hand over control of the Gaza Strip to an independent Palestinian technocratic transitional government, based on "Palestinian national consensus and with Arab and Islamic support”.
”The proposal is vague”
The future of the Gaza Strip and the Palestinians must also be shaped in connection with a "collective national position" and relevant international law, according to the Hamas statement.
Hamas does not mention its own disarmament in the statement, which is a requirement in the proposal.
The American proposal is vague, ambiguous and lacks clarity, says Hamas leader Mahmoud Mardawi to AFP.
Moussa Abu Marzouk, also high-ranking within Hamas, rejects in an interview with Al Jazeera the idea that President Donald Trump would lead a governing council in a transitional phase.
We will never accept that anyone who is not a Palestinian controls the Palestinians, he says.
Trump: Last chance
Hamas' response to the proposal came after Donald Trump earlier on Friday gave Hamas a sharp deadline – 6 pm on Sunday Washington time – to say yes to the proposal.
Trump describes an agreement as a "last chance" for Hamas. If the group does not accept a ceasefire, "a hell, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas”.
”There will be peace in the Middle East one way or another”, Trump wrote in capital letters on Truth Social.
Trump says that many of the remaining Hamas members in Gaza are surrounded and that he can at any moment give the go-ahead to "quickly extinguish" their lives.
”Fortunately for Hamas, they will get a last chance”, he writes and continues:
”This agreement also spares the lives of all remaining Hamas warriors!"
Joakim Magnå/TT
Facts: Trump's peace proposal
TT
The proposal that US President Donald Trump has put forward for peace in Gaza consists of 20 points.
They were worked out in consultation with several influential countries from the Arab and Muslim world. Trump then met with Israel's Prime Minister, who accepted the proposal, with some detailed changes.
The proposal stipulates, above all, an immediate end to the war, the release of all hostages held by Hamas, independent distribution of emergency aid to Gaza's population, a step-by-step withdrawal of Israel's military and the disarmament of Hamas.
After that, a technocratic transitional government will take over, with international forces on the ground and a governing council where Donald Trump is chairman. Gaza "will be a deradicalized terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbors" and will be rebuilt "for the benefit of Gaza's population".
