Sunday deadline set for Hamas

TDT | agencies

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

Trump sets Sunday deadline for Hamas; group seeks more time

The leadership of Hamas is reportedly divided over former US President Donald Trump’s plan to end nearly two years of devastating war in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Trump yesterday said Hamas has until 2200 GMT on Sunday to accept his 20-point plan for peace in Gaza, warning the Palestinian group faced “all hell” if it did not agree to the terms.

“If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

The US leader set the deadline -- which would fall at 1:00 a.m. Monday in Gaza -- after an official for the Islamist movement said yesterday that the group still needed time to study the proposal.

According to AFP, citing a source familiar with the negotiations, the divide lies between officials based in the Gaza Strip and those abroad, particularly in Qatar.

A Hamas official said yesterday that the group still needed more time to study the plan. Mohammad Nazzal, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, stated that the “plan has points of concern, and we will announce our position on it soon.”

‘Two opinions’

The source told AFP that “the first opinion supports unconditional approval, as the priority is a ceasefire under Trump’s guarantees, with mediators ensuring Israel implements the plan. The second has serious reservations regarding key clauses… They favour conditional approval with clarifications reflecting Hamas’s and the resistance factions’ demands.”