🔗 Share this article

US President Donald Trump has set a deadline to the Hamas organization, calling for them to approve a US-backed settlement for the Gaza region otherwise face severe consequences.

Via a message on his online channel on the end of the week, Trump stated that an understanding must be reached by 18:00 Washington time (22:00 GMT) on the coming Sunday.

This proposed plan involves an prompt halt to conflict and the return within a short period of twenty surviving Israel captives captured by the group—along with the bodies of hostages presumed to be deceased—in return for many of imprisoned residents.

Arab and Turkish negotiators are reported to be urging Hamas for a agreeable reply to the offer, but a high-ranking group official has indicated that the militant group is expected to refuse it.

"In case this ULTIMATE agreement is not achieved, all HELL, similar to anyone has before experienced, will occur against Hamas. WE WILL ENSURE CALM IN THE REGION NO MATTER WHAT," Trump wrote in the Truth Social message.

Negotiators have been in touch with the chief of the group's combat unit in the territory, who has suggested that he is opposed to the latest American truce proposal, as per information.

Sources indicate that some of the group's political leadership in the Gulf state are open to endorsing the proposal with modifications—but have found their leverage constrained as they lack authority over the captives held by the group.

A further obstacle for a number of in Hamas is that the agreement demands them to hand over the entirety of the captives over the opening three-day period of the halt—surrendering their primary negotiating tool.

There are believed to be 48 hostages presently being kept in the Gazan area by the armed faction, just twenty of whom are thought to be alive.

Israel's military launched a campaign in the Gaza Strip in response to the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which roughly 1,200 civilians were slain and two hundred fifty-one others were captured.

A minimum of sixty-six thousand two hundred eighty-eight individuals have been fatally injured in Israeli strikes in Gaza following the start, based on data from the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.