Hamas accepted most of President Trump’s terms for ending the war in Gaza on Friday, delivering a “Yes, but…” response that agreed to handing over all hostages and relinquishing control of the enclave but stopped short of the full surrender outlined in the agreement.
The response comes as Trump and officials in his administration issued a deadline on Friday to the Palestinian militant group with what was essentially a take-it-or-leave-it ultimatum.
“If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, then all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas,” wrote Trump on his messaging platform, Truth Social.
After days of what it said was “thorough study” — and intense pressure from its Arab interlocutors in Qatar, Egypt and others — Hamas issued a statement late Friday saying it would release all Israeli hostages, dead and alive, according to “the exchange formula outlined in President Trump’s proposal, provided that field conditions for carrying out the exchange are secured.”
Trump’s deal stipulated Israel would in return release 1,700 Gaza residents detained by Israel after Oct. 7, 2023; along with some 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences.
Hamas also agreed to another Trump condition, all but relinquishing 18-year-rule over the Gaza Strip and handing it over to what Trump said was a body of “technocratic” Palestinians overseen by a so-called “Board of Peace” headed by Trump and Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
But Hamas’s acceptance fell short of what could be an essential point for Israel: The notion of surrendering its weapons.
Through Trump’s agreement stipulates the group should disarm, Hamas has long insisted it would only hand over its weapons as part of a larger Palestinian deal that would lead to an independent Palestinian state — a position it reiterated once again in its Friday statement, saying that any other issues would be discussed through a comprehensive Palestinian national framework that would include Hamas.
The response, said Bader Al-Saif, a professor of history at Kuwait University, was “in the same style of the offer it received — vague and incomplete.”
“We have a quasi response to a quasi offer — one in need of more details, guarantees and enforcement ability on both Hamas and Israel,” he said, adding that Hamas was throwing the ball back in Israel’s court, knowing the divisions within the Israeli government over any plan that falls short of annihilating the group and excising it from any future negotiations.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
