© EPA/ BONNIE CASH / POOL Diplomatic sources say Hamas is close to giving an official response.
US President Donald Trump has issued a dire ultimatum to Hamas regarding Gaza. His post on the social network Truth Social is quoted on Friday, October 3, by the White House on social media: “We will have peace in the Middle East one way or another. The violence and bloodshed will stop. Freeing the hostages, all of them, including the bodies of the dead, NOW! A deal with Hamas must be reached by Sunday evening at six (6) o'clock Washington time…”
“Hamas has been a ruthless and brutal threat in the Middle East for many years! They have killed (and made life unbearably horrible), culminating in the October 7 massacre in Israel, where babies, women, children, the elderly, and many young men and women, boys and girls, who were preparing to celebrate their future life together, were killed. In retaliation for the October 7 attack on civilization, over 25,000 Hamas “soldiers” have already been killed. Most of the rest are surrounded and militarily blockaded, waiting only for my word “go” so that their lives can be quickly destroyed. As for the rest, we know where you are and who you are, and you will be hunted down and killed,” the American president emphasized.
He also called on “innocent Palestinians” to “immediately leave this zone of potentially great future death and move to safer areas of Gaza.”
“However, fortunately for Hamas, they will be given one last chance! The great, powerful, and very wealthy countries of the Middle East and surrounding areas, together with the United States of America, have agreed, and Israel has signed this agreement, on peace in the Middle East after 3,000 years. This agreement also saves the lives of all remaining Hamas militants! The details of the document are known to the world, and it is wonderful for everyone! One way or another, peace will come to the Middle East. The violence and bloodshed will stop,” Trump noted.
He called for the immediate release of all hostages and the return of the bodies of the dead.
Trump promised that if Hamas did not respond and comply, “hell like no one has ever seen will descend upon the Palestinian group”:
“A deal must be reached with Hamas by Sunday evening at 6:00 p.m. Washington time. Every country has signed on to this! If this final deal is not reached, Hamas will be hit by hell like no one has ever seen before,” the US president concluded.
According to Palestinian and diplomatic sources involved in the talks in Doha, Hamas is close to providing an official response and is expected to present it to the mediators within days. A senior Hamas official explained: “We cannot demand a solution within days while fundamental issues remain open,” the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.
The official explained that Trump's demand to provide a response by the beginning of next week is related to his personal considerations, primarily the desire to present a diplomatic achievement before the Nobel Peace Prize laureate is announced on October 10.
Let us recall that, if both sides agree, the idea is for an immediate ceasefire, the return of Hamas hostages in exchange for the release of a specified number of terrorist prisoners from Israeli prisons, and the gradual withdrawal of the IDF from Gaza. Washington guarantees that Israel will not resume hostilities after the exchange. This should be followed by the disarmament of Palestinian radicals, the formation of a civilian administration without Hamas participation under the auspices of an international transitional body, the Peace Council, and large-scale reconstruction. If both sides agree to abandon the armed struggle, the terrorists will receive amnesty, and those who resist will be offered free departure from Gaza with guarantees of personal safety. Vyacheslav Likhachev, a member of the Expert Council of the Center for Civil Liberties, writes about this in detail in the article “Trump's Plan for Gaza: A Historic Chance for Peace or Another Illusion?”
