Trump Says Hamas Ready For ‘peace,’ Calls On Israel To Stop Bombing

President Donald Trump said he believes Hamas is “ready for a lasting PEACE” after the group released a statement Friday evening appearing to agree to many of the terms of a peace deal the U.S. and Israel announced earlier this week.

Hamas, in its statement, said it would release all hostages, including remains, and affirmed “its readiness to immediately enter, through mediators, into negotiations to discuss the details,” a potentially major breakthrough following nearly two years of war in the Gaza Strip. The group also agreed to hand over control of the Gaza Strip to an independent Palestinian body, an important point in the peace plan.

Hamas did not agree to disarm or say when it would hand over the hostages, which were also part of the 20-point plan that Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposed.

But in a sign that Trump views this as a good-faith effort on Hamas’ part, he called on Israel in a post on Truth Social to “immediately stop the bombing of Gaza so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly,” adding that “we are already in discussions on details to be worked out.”

His post, however, did not say Hamas’ statement was proof of a peace deal, an unusual amount of restraint for the usually boastful president.

Still, should Israel agree to the ceasefire and Hamas release the hostages, the peace deal stands to be the most significant achievement of Trump’s second term.

The peace plan, which Trump and Netanyahu announced during a joint press conference on Monday, lays out conditions for a ceasefire, the exchange of hostages and prisoners and the establishment of an international trusteeship that would govern Gaza in the short-term.

Other elements of the peace deal, Hamas said Friday evening, would require further discussion.

While Trump had called for Hamas to respond to his proposal in “three or four days,” the president on Friday extended that deadline to Sunday, threatening that Hamas would face “all HELL, like no one has ever seen before” if it rejected the offer.

Qatar and other Arab allies have been in close contact with Hamas officials in recent days and urged the group’s leaders to accept the proposal.