Donald Trump has ordered Israel to stop bombing the Gaza Strip after Hamas said it had accepted some elements of his plan to end the nearly two-year war and return all the remaining hostages taken in the October 7, 2023, attack.
Hamas said it was willing to release the hostages and hand over power to other Palestinians, but that other aspects of the plan require further consultations among Palestinians.
Senior Hamas officials suggested there were still major disagreements that required further negotiations.
There was no immediate response from Israel, which is largely shut down for the Jewish Sabbath, and Hamas’s response fell short of prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s demands that the group surrender and disarm.
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But Mr Trump welcomed the Hamas statement, saying on social media: “I believe they are ready for a lasting PEACE.”
“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.
Hamas said aspects of the proposal touching on the future of the Gaza Strip and Palestinian rights should be decided on the basis of a “unanimous Palestinian stance” reached with other factions and based on international law.
The statement also made no mention of Hamas disarming, a key Israeli demand included in Mr Trump’s proposal.
Mr Trump appears keen to deliver on pledges to end the war and return dozens of hostages in advance of the second anniversary of the attack on Tuesday.
His peace plan has been accepted by Israel and welcomed internationally.
Key mediators Egypt and Qatar welcomed the latest developments, and Majed Al Ansari, a spokesman for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, said they would “continue discussions on the plan”.
A spokesman for United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres said he “urges all parties to seize the opportunity to bring the tragic conflict in Gaza to an end”.
French president Emmanuel Macron wrote on social media that “the release of all hostages and a ceasefire in Gaza are within reach!”
Earlier, Mr Trump had warned that Hamas must agree to the deal by Sunday evening, threatening an even greater military onslaught.
“An agreement must be reached with Hamas by Sunday Evening at 6pm Washington DC time,” Mr Trump wrote on Friday on social media.
“Every country has signed on! If this last chance agreement is not reached, all hell, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas. There will be peace in the Middle East one way or the other.”
Under the plan, which Mr Trump unveiled earlier this week alongside Mr Netanyahu, Hamas would immediately release the remaining 48 hostages – about 20 of them believed to be alive.
[ Hamas weighs Trump peace plan as other Palestinian factions reject itOpens in new window ]
It would also give up power and disarm.
In return, Israel would halt its offensive and withdraw from much of the territory, release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and allow an influx of humanitarian aid and eventual reconstruction.
Plans to relocate much of Gaza’s population to other countries would be shelved.
The territory of some two million Palestinians would be placed under international governance, with Mr Trump himself and former British prime minister Tony Blair overseeing it.
The plan provides no path for eventual reunification with the Israeli-occupied West Bank in a future Palestinian state.
A Hamas official told the Associated Press this week that some elements of the plan are unacceptable and need to be amended, without elaborating.
Palestinians long for an end to the war, but many view this and previous US proposals as strongly favouring Israel.
Israel has sought to ramp up pressure on Hamas since ending an earlier ceasefire in March.
It sealed the territory off from food, medicine and other goods for two and a half months and has seized, flattened and largely depopulated large areas of the territory.
Experts determined that Gaza City had slid into famine shortly before Israel launched a major offensive aimed at occupying it.
An estimated 400,000 people have fled the city in recent weeks, but hundreds of thousands more have stayed behind.
Most of Hamas’ top leaders in Gaza and thousands of its fighters have already been killed, but it still has influence in areas not controlled by the Israeli military and launches sporadic attacks that have killed and wounded Israeli soldiers.
Hamas has held firm to its position that it will only release the remaining hostages – its sole bargaining chip and potential human shields – in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal.
Mr Netanyahu has rejected those terms, saying Hamas must surrender and disarm.
Thousands of Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, attacking army bases, farming communities and an outdoor music festival, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
They abducted 251 others, most of them since released in ceasefires or other deals.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 66,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants. It says women and children make up around half the dead.
The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and the U.N. and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.
The offensive has displaced about 90 per cent of Gaza’s population, often multiple times, and left much of the territory uninhabitable.
Earlier a senior Hamas official told Al Jazeera that the group would not disarm before Israel’s occupation of the enclave ends, comments that underscored the gap between the parties as the war approaches its two-year mark.
[ What’s in Trump’s 20-point peace plan for Gaza, and will Hamas accept it?Opens in new window ]
Hamas’s greatest fear is that the Israel will renew attacks once the hostages are released, even if there were international guarantees in place to thwart such a scenario.
Throughout the war, campaigners in Israel calling for the release of the hostages have urged their government to accept any deal that brings the hostages home, arguing that if need be, Israel will find an excuse afterwards to renew hostilities. Hamas is attentive to these voices, which fuel their mistrust over Israeli intentions. – Additional reporting: Reuters and AP
