Trump gives Hamas until 6am on Oct 6 to reach Gaza deal
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US President Donald Trump's peace plan promises to stop the fighting in Gaza.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump gave Hamas until 6am on Oct 6, Singapore time, to reach an agreement on his plan for Gaza's future, calling it a last chance for the Palestinian militant group.
"An agreement must be reached with Hamas by Sunday Evening at SIX (6) P.M., Washington, D.C. time," Mr Trump wrote on Oct 3 on Truth Social.
"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."
In the post, Mr Trump said “innocent Palestinians” should evacuate an unspecified area in anticipation of a potential assault on Hamas’s remaining forces.
Most of Hamas’ fighters “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”, he said.
“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. Fortunately for Hamas, however, they will be given one last chance!” he said.
Mr Trump on Sept 30 said he would give Hamas three to four days to accept the 20-point document
The plan specifies an immediate ceasefire, an exchange of all hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, a staged Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas and the introduction of a transitional government led by an international body.
A Hamas official said earlier on Oct 3 that the group still needed time
World powers, including Arab and Muslim nations, have welcomed the proposal.
Hamas wants changes
Mr Mohammad Nazzal, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, said in a statement on Oct 3 that the “plan has points of concern, and we will announce our position on it soon”. “We are in contact with mediators and with Arab and Islamic parties, and we are serious about reaching understandings,” he added.
A Palestinian source close to Hamas’ leadership told AFP on Oct 1 that the Islamist movement “wants to amend some of the clauses such as the one on disarmament and the expulsion of Hamas and faction cadres”.
Hamas leaders also want “international guarantees for a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip” and guarantees that no assassination attempts will be made inside or outside the territory, the source added.
Another source familiar with the negotiations said the group was split over Mr Trump’s plan.
Structurally, the group’s leadership is divided between officials based in Gaza and those abroad, particularly in Qatar, which has acted as a key mediator with Egypt and the United States.
Much of the Hamas leadership has been wiped out in Israeli attacks throughout the war.
Another source familiar with the negotiations said “two opinions exist within Hamas”.
“The first supports unconditional approval, as the priority is a ceasefire under Trump’s guarantees, with mediators ensuring Israel implements the plan,” he said.
“The second has serious reservations regarding key clauses, rejecting disarmament and the expulsion of any Palestinian from Gaza. They favour conditional approval with clarifications reflecting Hamas’ and the resistance factions’ demands,” the source added.
‘Catastrophic’
The Israeli military has for weeks been waging an air and ground offensive on the territory’s largest urban centre, from where hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee.
Mr Adnan Abu Hasna, a media adviser for the UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA, described the situation in Gaza as “catastrophic”, with Palestinians forced into repeated rounds of displacement and where “access to food and water remains limited”.
The United Nations on Oct 3 reiterated there was no safe place in Gaza, and that Israel-designated zones in the south were “places of death”.
“The notion of a safe zone in the south is farcical,” Unicef spokesman James Elder told reporters in Geneva, speaking from Gaza.
Amnesty International condemned a “catastrophic wave of mass displacement” as Israel intensified its Gaza City offensive.
The rights group said hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, many of whom had already been displaced multiple times, were being forced into “overcrowded enclaves in the south that lack access to clean water, food, medical care, shelter and life-sustaining infrastructure”.
As the war nears the two-year mark and the death toll and destruction continues to rise, protesters around the world have in recent days railed at Israel’s interception of a flotilla carrying pro-Palestinian activists and aid for Gaza.
On Oct 3, the organisers of the Global Sumud Flotilla said its last remaining boat had been intercepted, and Israel’s Foreign Ministry said it has deported four Italian participants. REUTERS, AFP
