President Donald Trump warned Hamas on Sunday that it had one last chance to reach a hostage deal, or else.
The consequences were not specified, but the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are currently poised to commence an attack on the last Hamas strongholds in Gaza City, in northern Gaza.
Trump posted to Truth Social:
Everyone wants the Hostages HOME. Everyone wants this War to end! The Israelis have accepted my Terms. It is time for Hamas to accept as well. I have warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting. This is my last warning, there will not be another one! Thank you for your attention to this matter.
DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Earlier this weekend, as Breitbart News reported, the Trump administration passed a last-minute hostage deal proposal to Hamas from Special Envoy Steve Witkoff via columnist Gershom Baskin, who has been an intermediary before.
The terms of the deal were not clear, but likely involve the release of all 48 remaining Israeli hostages, some 20 of whom may still be alive.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, responded to foreign and domestic criticism of Israel’s military posture by telling his Cabinet that he would rather achieve victory over Hamas than a good eulogy in the international press.
“f I need to choose between victory over our enemies and malicious propaganda against us, I choose victory over our enemies, as opposed to the opposite. I do not want stories that we have been beaten by our enemies and for us to be eulogized well in the global media. I choose victory,” he said.
Update: The Times of Israel reported Sunday evening (early Monday morning local time) that Hamas said it is willing to negotiate, based on a framework that would see the release all of the “prisoners” (possibly meaning all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody, not necessarily all of the Israeli hostages), in return for a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza (perhaps including buffer zones established by Israel) and an end to the war.
The Hamas statement did not mention disarmament, nor did it mention the Israeli demand that it leave power — only that it would agree to an “independent” committee of Palestinians to govern Gaza.
It is not clear whether the Hamas response actually meets President Trump’s demands, and appears designed to create the appearance of agreement in order to generate pressure on Israel not to proceed with its attack on Gaza City.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Zionist Conspiracy Wants You, now available on Amazon. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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