Is this for REAL?
Would Hamas leave Gaza?
Go where?
Donald Trump has claimed that Israel is ready to agree to a peace deal with Hamas as he seeks to broker a ceasefire in the Gaza war that has claimed almost 60,000 lives, but it is unclear what conditions specifically Israel has agreed to.
In a post on Truth Social on Tuesday night, the US president wrote: “Israel has agreed to the necessary conditions to finalize the 60 Day CEASEFIRE, during which time we will work with all parties to end the War.”
Trump’s previous claims that Israel was ready to end the war, including a ceasefire negotiated before his inauguration in January, have quickly broken down as both sides accused the other of violating agreements on prisoner exchanges.
Hamas said on Wednesday that it was reviewing Trump’s proposal for a 60-day ceasefire, while Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said any peace agreement would banish Hamas from the Gaza Strip permanently.
“There will not be a Hamas,” Netanyahu said in his first public comments since Trump proposed the ceasefire talks on Tuesday. “There will not be a Hamastan. We’re not going back to that. It’s over.”
Hamas negotiators were expected to meet Egyptian and Qatari mediators in Cairo on Wednesday. Israel is not believed to have sent a delegation.
US officials have supported Israel’s demand that Hamas no longer exist in Gaza as a non-negotiable in any ceasefire negotiations.
For many months, negotiators have been discussing intermittently a version of a ceasefire plan put forward by the US envoy Steve Witkoff that is close to previous Israeli proposals.
Trump’s claim came after he brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, and on the same day as Israel’s strategic affairs minister, Ron Dermer, reportedly met Witkoff and the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio.
Trump wrote: “The Qataris and Egyptians, who have worked very hard to help bring Peace, will deliver this final proposal. I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE.”
Trump is expected to meet Netanyahu at the White House on Monday.
There was a muted reaction in Israel to Trump’s statement, with officials stressing many unresolved issues. Israel has not sent negotiating teams either to Cairo or Qatar, where the indirect talks have been taking place.
But Yedioth Ahronoth, a mass-market Israeli newspaper, reported that sources “involved in the hostage deal talks said that both Israel and Hamas were more motivated, even without clear guarantees that the war would end”……
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