President Donald Trump pressed Hamas to honor its agreement to release the hostages once the peace deal has been completed.
Trump made the comments in a Saturday morning post on Truth Social.
“I appreciate that Israel has temporarily stopped the bombing in order to give the Hostage release and Peace Deal a chance to be completed,” he wrote in a Truth Social post. “Hamas must move quickly, or else all bets will be off. I will not tolerate delay, which many think will happen, or any outcome where Gaza poses a threat again. Let’s get this done, FAST. Everyone will be treated fairly!”
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The president set a deadline of 6 p.m. Eastern Time on Sunday for Hamas to agree to the deal or else “all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas.”
Trump ordered Israel to stop bombing Hamas on Friday.
“Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly! Right now, it’s far too dangerous to do that. We are already in discussions on details to be worked out,” he wrote on social media.
Israel has said they are ready for the “immediate release of all hostages.”
There’s some confusion as to whether Hamas did accept the president’s 20-point peace deal.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) wrote on X Friday that Hamas’ response was “in essence, a rejection” of Trump’s offer. Hamas had agreed to release the hostages, but wanted to speak about the deal more.
“Hamas’ recent response to President Trump’s plan to end the war — which Israel had accepted — is unfortunately predictable. A classic ‘Yes, but.’ No disarmament, keeping Gaza under Palestinian control, and tying hostage release to negotiations, along with other problems. This is, in essence, a rejection by Hamas of President Trump’s ‘take it or leave it’ proposal,” Graham wrote.
The group wanted a mediated discussion about Trump’s proposal, but it’s unclear whether there will be time to do so before Trump’s deadline.
Hamas “affirms its readiness to immediately enter into negotiations through the mediators to discuss the details of this agreement,” the group said in a statement on Friday.
“The movement also renews its agreement to hand over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian body of independents (technocrats), based on Palestinian national consensus and Arab and Islamic support,” Hamas added.
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Former Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Michael Herzog, agreed with Graham’s assessment.
“It was a ‘no’ cloaked as a ‘yes,’” he told the New York Times.