OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday gave Hamas an ultimatum of “three or four days” to respond to his plan to end Israeli aggression in Gaza, as the Palestinian group reviewed the proposal backed by Israel.
The plan calls for a ceasefire, the release of hostages by Hamas within 72 hours, a disarmament of Hamas and the gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, followed by a post-war transitional authority headed by Trump himself.
World powers, including Arab and Muslim nations, welcomed the proposal, but Hamas had yet to issue its response.
“We’re going to do about three or four days,” Trump told reporters when asked about any timeframe.
He later warned the Hamas would face severe consequences if they refused.
“We have one signature that we need, and that signature will pay in hell if they don’t sign,” Trump told US generals and admirals gathered at a military base in Quantico, Virginia.
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Trump announced his proposal at the White House on Monday after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
On Tuesday, a Palestinian source said on condition of anonymity that Hamas had begun consultations on the plan “within its political and military leaderships, both inside Palestine and abroad”.
“The discussions could take several days due to the complexities,” the source said.
Qatar, which hosts Hamas’s exiled leadership, said it would hold a meeting with Hamas officials and Turkey later Tuesday.
“It is still too early to speak about responses, but we are truly optimistic that this plan, as we said, is a comprehensive one,” foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said.
The deal demands that Hamas fully disarm and be excluded from future roles in the government, but those who agree to “peaceful co-existence” would be given amnesty.
It would also see a phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza after nearly two years of war.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for “all parties” to commit to “an agreement and its implementation”.
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He also reiterated his call for an “immediate and permanent ceasefire”, a spokesman said.
‘End in tears’
But in a video statement posted after the joint press conference with Trump, Netanyahu said that the military would stay in most of Gaza, and that he did not agree to a Palestinian state during his talks in Washington.
“We will recover all our hostages, alive and well, while the (Israeli military) will remain in most of the Gaza Strip,” he said.
Still, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a member of Netanyahu’s coalition government, blasted the plan as a “resounding diplomatic failure”.
“In my estimation, it will also end in tears. Our children will be forced to fight in Gaza again,” he said.
Trump’s plan includes deployment of a “temporary international stabilisation force” and the creation of a transitional authority headed by Trump himself and including former British premier Tony Blair.
During his press conference with Trump, Netanyahu cast doubt on whether the Palestinian Authority, which nominally runs Palestinian population centres in the occupied West Bank, would be allowed a role in Gaza’s governance.
Trump noted that during their meeting Netanyahu strongly opposed any Palestinian statehood – something that the US plan leaves room for.
“I support your plan to end the war in Gaza which achieves our war aims,” Netanyahu said.
“If Hamas rejects your plan, Mr President, or if they supposedly accept it and then basically do everything to counter it, then Israel will finish the job by itself.”
Trump said Israel would have his “full backing” to do so if Hamas did not accept the deal.
Key Arab and Muslim nations, including mediators Egypt and Qatar, hailed the agreement’s “sincere efforts” in the wake of their own talks with Trump last week.
Washington’s European allies including Britain, France, Germany and Italy voiced strong expressions of support, while China and Russia also declared their backing.
‘Unrealistic’
But in Gaza, people were sceptical.
“It’s clear that this plan is unrealistic”, 39-year-old Ibrahim Joudeh told AFP from his shelter in the so-called humanitarian zone of Al-Mawasi in southern Gaza.
“It’s drafted with conditions that the US and Israel know Hamas will never accept. For us, that means the war and the suffering will continue,” said the computer programmer, originally from the southern city of Rafah, devastated by a military offensive that began in May.
Israeli air strikes and shelling continued across Gaza on Tuesday, according to the territory’s civil defence agency and witnesses.
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The Israeli military said its forces were carrying out operations across the territory, particularly in Gaza City.
The Palestinian Authority welcomed what it called Trump’s “sincere and determined efforts.”
But Hamas ally Islamic Jihad said the plan would fuel further aggression against Palestinians.
“Through this, Israel is attempting – via the United States – to impose what it could not achieve through war,” the group said.
Israel has killed 66,097 Palestinians, also mostly civilians, according to health ministry figures in Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.
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