Trump Warns Hamas: Reach Gaza Deal by Sunday Night or Face Consequences

Washington-US President Donald Trump has given Hamas until Sunday evening to accept his proposal to end the nearly two-year conflict in Gaza with Israel, warning that failure to do so would trigger unprecedented consequences.

In a post on social media Friday, Trump declared: “An agreement must be reached with Hamas by Sunday at 6 p.m. Washington, D.C. time. Every country has agreed! If this FINAL CHANCE deal is rejected, all hell — beyond anything witnessed before — will break out against Hamas.”

The proposed plan calls for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody, a phased Israeli pullout from Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas, and the establishment of a transitional administration under international supervision.

Trump had earlier shared the proposal with leaders and officials from Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan, Qatar, and the UAE during meetings held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly last week.

Mediators Qatar and Egypt then shared the 20-point plan with Hamas late on Monday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared alongside Trump at the White House and endorsed the document, saying it satisfied Israel’s war aims.

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Hamas was not involved in the negotiations that led to the proposal, which calls on the fighter group to disarm, a demand it has previously rejected.

Asked whether his group had finalised its response to Trump’s Gaza plan, a Hamas official told Reuters late on Thursday: “Not yet, intensive discussion is under way.” The official said Hamas had held talks with Arab mediators, Turkey and Palestinian factions to shape “the Palestinian response.”

On Tuesday, Trump said he would give Hamas three to four days to accept the plan. On Friday he described Hamas as a “ruthless and violent threat in the Middle East.”

In his Truth Social post on Friday, Trump made an apparent reference to Israel’s offensive in Gaza City. He said remaining Hamas fighters in Gaza are trapped and “will be hunted down, and killed” without a deal, and warned “innocent Palestinians” to leave for safer areas of Gaza.

The United Nations has repeatedly said that nowhere in Gaza is safe. Israel blocked Gaza City’s main road on Thursday and has told its million residents to flee south, warning it was their last chance to escape a major offensive.

 

Gaza City and surrounding areas are suffering from famine, and it will likely spread, a global hunger monitor determined in late August. Israel stopped all aid for 11 weeks from March until mid-May and says it is improving access, but the UN and aid groups say much more is needed.

“President Trump’s Gaza initiative opens a window of opportunity. It offers both a chance for Palestinians to receive life-saving aid at the scale urgently needed, and to bring the hostages home,” UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said in a statement on Friday. “We are ready and eager to act.”

Trump’s plan calls for aid to Gaza to be distributed without interference by neutral international groups, with the UN promising 170,000 metric tons ready to enter.

Israel began its offensive in Gaza after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken as hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 66,000 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to Gaza health authorities.

Trump said in his Friday post that “more than 25,000 Hamas ‘soldiers’ have already been killed.” Hamas rarely discloses fatalities among its fighters.