Trump threatens Hamas, gives group Sunday deadline to respond to Gaza plan
US President Donald Trump says the Palestinian group has until Sunday at 6pm in Washington, DC (22:00 GMT) to respond to his 20-point Gaza plan.
“If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas,” Trump wrote in a lengthy post on his Truth Social platform. “THERE WILL BE PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST ONE WAY OR THE OTHER,” he added in all caps.
Trump threatened Hamas several times in the post, claiming its members “are surrounded and MILITARILY TRAPPED, just waiting for me to give the word, ‘GO,’ for their lives to be quickly extinguished”.
“As for the rest, we know where and who you are, and you will be hunted down, and killed. I am asking that all innocent Palestinians immediately leave this area of potentially great future death for safer parts of Gaza. Everyone will be well cared for by those that are waiting to help,” he said.
Hamas political bureau member Mohammad Nazzal told our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic yesterday that the Palestinian group will soon announce its position on the US proposal.
Nazzal said Hamas, as a representative of the Palestinian resistance, has a right to express its views “in a way that serves the interests” of the Palestinian people. “We are not dealing [with the plan] with the logic that time is a sword pointed at our neck,” Nazzal said.
Palestinian rights must be at heart of any Gaza plan: UN experts
A group of UN experts has warned that elements of Trump’s proposal for the Gaza Strip are “deeply inconsistent” with international law – and could lead to further violations of Palestinian rights.
“Imposing an immediate peace at any price, regardless of or brazenly against law and justice, is a recipe for further injustice, future violence and instability,” they said in a joint statement.
Among other issues, the experts said the plan:
- Does not guarantee the Palestinian right to self-determination
- Includes the establishment of a “temporary transitional government” that is not representative of Palestinians
- Would allow for a partial Israeli occupation of Gaza to continue indefinitely, something that “is absolutely unacceptable”
- Imposes “deradicalisation” on Palestinians alone while ignoring “anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab sentiments, radicalisation and public incitement to genocide [that] have been hallmarks of dominant rhetoric in Israel over the past two years”.
