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02-10-2025
GAZA STRIP/ CAIRO: Hamas’s negotiating team is studying US President Trump’s 20-point plan to end Israel’s war on Gaza, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman has confirmed.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he agreed to the plan in a news briefing with Trump at the White House, as Israeli forces continued to escalate attacks on the Gaza Strip, killing at least 45 people since dawn.
Palestinians in Gaza have said the plan raises many questions, including what a proposed international stabilization force for the enclave might look like.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 66,055 people and wounded 168,346 since October 2023. Thousands more are believed to be buried under the rubble. A total of 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7, 2023, attacks, and about 200 were taken captive.
Fatah welcomes US-led efforts
The Palestinian political movement that dominates the Palestinian Authority has welcomed efforts led by Trump to end the war in Gaza and protect innocent lives, according to a statement carried by the official Wafa news agency.
The group said it is ready to cooperate with all parties to secure a ceasefire, allow humanitarian aid into the famine-struck enclave, ensure the release of captives and Palestinian prisoners and establish international mechanisms to safeguard Palestinians.
The statement also called for the release of frozen Palestinian tax funds, a complete Israeli withdrawal and steps to restore unity across Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and East Jerusalem as part of a two-state solution.
Fatah added that it supports President Mahmoud Abbas’s pledge to implement reforms, including holding presidential and parliamentary elections within a year of the war’s end but senior Fatah official Abbas Zaki struck a sharply different tone in separate comments to local media, describing the US plan as a “document of surrender” imposed on Palestinians without their consent.
He warned that accepting such proposals would entrench humiliation, legitimize occupation and fragment Palestinian unity, accusing Washington and Israel of plotting to “liquidate the Palestinian cause”.
Cabinet wants to see Gaza war end
Yossi Beilin, a former Israeli justice minister, says “a big majority” of Israel’s cabinet will support Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza.
Even according to public opinion, it is “clear” that the majority of people want to end the war, Beilin told media.
“The main issue is the votes in the cabinet,” he said. “From the point of view of the parliament, the opposition already declared that it will support it, so there is no problem for Netanyahu to get the majority that he needs.”
Even though the agreement is “not a perfect one”, it will be vital to discuss the details of how to implement it, he said, meaning it would be beneficial if “centre-left parties” were to join Netanyahu’s coalition.
Trump’s proposal to Hamas an ‘ultimatum’, not ‘offer’
Trump said he will give Hamas three to four days to meet his demands.
He also spoke about how Hamas leadership has changed because of Israeli attacks on its members and mentioned that he sees this deal as about far more than Gaza but something leading to a wider peace within the region.
This plan is not an offer, as Trump made quite clear. It’s an ultimatum. We’ve heard an inkling of what could happen should Hamas not comply. (Int’l News Desk)
