🔗 Share this article

The US leader Trump has issued a ultimatum to Hamas, calling for them to agree to a proposed ceasefire agreement for the Gaza region or else risk extreme actions.

In a message on his Truth Social account on Friday, the President declared that an deal must be finalized by 18:00 Washington time (10 PM GMT) on the coming Sunday.

The proposed agreement includes an prompt halt to hostilities and the freeing within a short period of 20 surviving Israeli hostages kept by Hamas—along with the remnants of individuals presumed to be dead—in exchange for hundreds of arrested residents.

Regional negotiators are believed to be urging Hamas for a agreeable reply to the offer, but a senior Hamas representative has indicated that the militant faction is likely to reject it.

"Should this FINAL deal is not secured, severe retaliation, like nobody has previously experienced, will occur against the group. WE WILL ACHIEVE PEACE IN THE REGION ONE WAY OR THE OTHER," the President wrote in the social media post.

Intermediaries have made contact with the head of Hamas's armed faction in Gaza, who has signaled that he does not agree to the recent American halt plan, based on reports.

It is thought that a portion of the group's political wing in Qatar are receptive to accepting the agreement with modifications—but have found their leverage restricted as they do not have control over the detainees held by the organization.

An additional hurdle for some in Hamas is that the proposal necessitates them to hand over the entirety of the hostages over the first short window of the truce—giving away their sole bargaining chip.

Reports suggest to be 48 captives still being kept in the Palestinian territory by the armed group, merely 20 of whom are estimated to be surviving.

The Israeli army initiated a offensive in Gaza in retaliation to the Hamas-led offensive on Israeli territory on a previous date, in which roughly over a thousand individuals were slain and two hundred fifty-one additional individuals were captured.

At least sixty-six thousand two hundred eighty-eight individuals have been lost their lives in Israeli attacks in the territory since then, according to the region's Hamas-run medical office.