🔗 Share this article

US President Donald Trump has delivered a ultimatum to Hamas, demanding them to agree to a US-backed peace plan for Gaza or else face extreme consequences.

Through a message on his online channel on Friday, the President stated that an understanding must be achieved by 18:00 Washington time (10 PM GMT) on Sunday.

The suggested proposal calls for an swift halt to fighting and the freeing within a short period of 20 surviving Israel detainees kept by the group—as well as the bodies of hostages thought to be no longer alive—in exchange for many of imprisoned Palestinians.

Regional mediators are reported to be pressing the organization for a agreeable answer to the offer, but a prominent group official has indicated that the militant faction is probable to decline it.

"In case this FINAL agreement is not secured, all HELL, as no one has previously witnessed, will break out against Hamas. THERE WILL BE STABILITY IN THE MIDDLE EAST BY ANY MEANS," Trump posted in the online post.

Intermediaries have made contact with the leader of the group's military wing in Gaza, who has signaled that he does not agree to the new US ceasefire proposal, as per reports.

It is thought that certain members of Hamas's political wing in the Gulf state are receptive to accepting the plan with modifications—yet have found their influence restricted as they do not have control over the detainees held by the organization.

A further hurdle for some in the group is that the plan necessitates them to hand over each and every the hostages over the opening short window of the ceasefire—relinquishing their only bargaining chip.

Reports suggest to be 48 detainees presently being held in the Palestinian area by the armed group, just 20 of whom are believed to be surviving.

The Israeli military began a campaign in the Gaza Strip in response to the group's assault on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which roughly over a thousand people were slain and two hundred fifty-one others were taken hostage.

A minimum of 66,288 residents have been killed in Israeli operations in Gaza since then, as reported by the region's group-administered health authority.