WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Monday backed Israel’s expanded military offensive in Gaza, saying that the remaining 50 hostages would only be freed once Hamas had been completely eradicated.
“We will only see the return of the remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday. “The sooner this takes place, the better the chances of success will be.”
The president’s remarks suggest he approves of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to invade Gaza City to clear out Hamas’ terrorists and pressure the group into agreeing to a ceasefire deal.
Trump also suggested the US could be directly involved in the conflict beyond serving as mediators at the negotiating table.
“Remember, I was the one who negotiated and got hundreds of hostages freed and released into Israel (and America!),” the president claimed.
Meanwhile, thousands of Palestinians have left their homes in eastern areas of Gaza City, now under constant Israeli bombardment, for points to the west and south of the shattered territory.
Israel’s plan to seize control of Gaza City has stirred alarm abroad and at home where tens of thousands of Israelis held some of the largest protests seen since the war began, urging a deal to end the fighting and free the remaining 50 hostages.
Hamas accepts new truce plan
Meanwhile, Hamas has accepted a new ceasefire proposal for Gaza without requesting amendments, a source from the Palestinian group told AFP Monday, after a fresh diplomatic push to end more than 22 months of Israeli bombardment campaign.
Mediators Egypt and Qatar, backed by the United States, have struggled to secure a lasting truce in the conflict, which has triggered a dire humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
But after receiving a new proposal from mediators, Hamas said it was ready for talks.
“Hamas has delivered its response to the mediators, confirming that Hamas and the factions agreed to the new ceasefire proposal without requesting any amendments,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A Palestinian source familiar with the talks said mediators were “expected to announce that an agreement has been reached and set a date for the resumption of talks”, adding that guarantees were offered to ensure implementation and pursue a permanent solution.
Another Palestinian official earlier said mediators had proposed an initial 60-day truce and hostage release in two batches.
The proposal comes more than a week after Israel’s security cabinet approved plans to expand the war into Gaza City and nearby refugee camps, which have sparked international outcry as well as domestic opposition.
Confronted and destroyed
According to AFP, the plan envisaged a 60-day ceasefire “during which 10 Israeli hostages would be released alive, along with a number of bodies”.
US President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social: “We will only see the return of the remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!!”
“The sooner this takes place, the better the chances of success will be.”
Last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel “will agree to an agreement in which all the hostages are released at once and according to our conditions for ending the war”.
Beyond imagination
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, visiting the Rafah border crossing with Gaza on Monday, said Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani was visiting “to consolidate our existing common efforts in order to apply maximum pressure on the two sides to reach a deal as soon as possible”.
Alluding to the dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people living in the Gaza Strip, where UN agencies and aid groups have warned of famine, Abdelatty stressed the urgency of reaching an agreement.
“The current situation on the ground is beyond imagination,” he said.
Egypt said on Monday it was willing to join a potential international force deployed to Gaza, but only if backed by a UN Security Council resolution and accompanied by a “political horizon”.
Deliberate’ starvation
On the ground, Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 11 people across the territory on Monday, including six killed by Israeli fire in the south.
Rights group Amnesty International has accused Israel of enacting a “deliberate policy” of starvation in Gaza and “systematically destroying the health, well-being and social fabric of Palestinian life”.
Israel, while heavily restricting aid allowed into Gaza, has repeatedly rejected claims of deliberate starvation.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 62,004 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
