Trump has responded early Saturday by telling Israel to “immediately stop bombing Gaza”, adding that Hamas was “ready for a lasting peace”.
While overall relentless Israeli bombardment appears to have eased relatively, the military carried out a drone strike on a tent in al-Mawasi, southern Gaza, killing two children and injuring several other people, a source at the Nasser Medical Complex told Al Jazeera.
The deaths represent the first confirmed Palestinian casualties in Gaza since Trump instructed Israel to “immediately” halt its bombing of the enclave after Hamas responded positively to his plan.
Israel announced it is preparing to implement the “first stage of Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza”. The government has instructed the military to reduce offensive activity in Gaza after it said it was preparing for an “immediate implementation” of the first stage of Trump’s Gaza plan following Hamas’s response to the plan, Israeli media reported.
Hamas handed over its response to Trump’s 20-point plan to halt the war on Friday, an informed source told Al Jazeera, hours after Trump gave the group until Sunday to respond to the proposal.
Trump’s 20-point plan included demands for an immediate ceasefire, an exchange of all remaining 48 Israeli captives – 20 are believed to be alive – for Palestinian prisoners, the introduction of a transitional government led by an international body, and the disarmament of Hamas.
The group’s response, which did not address the issue of disarmament, stated that it had agreed “to release all occupation captives – both living and the remains – according to the exchange formula outlined in President Trump’s proposal, with the provision of field conditions necessary for the exchange”.
It added that it was ready to “immediately enter negotiations through mediators to discuss the details” of the exchange.
The group also noted it was ready to “hand over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian body of independents [technocrats] based on Palestinian national consensus and with Arab and Islamic support”.
That element of the statement appeared to indicate that Hamas, which would have to relinquish power under Trump’s plan, wants Gaza to be administered by Palestinians rather than Trump’s proposed “Board of Peace”.
That is an international transitional governance body that would be overseen by Trump himself and the highly divisive figure Tony Blair, who was British prime minister during the 2003 United States-led invasion and occupation of Iraq based on false claims about weapons of mass destruction, and is regarded by many in the Arab world and in the United Kingdom as a “war criminal”.
Signalling that further negotiations would be required, it said aspects of the proposal touching on “the future of the Gaza Strip and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people” should be decided on the basis of a “unanimous national position and relevant international laws and resolutions”.
The statement came after Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that if an agreement was not reached by Sunday, then “all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas”.
The group’s response to the 20-point plan came as Israel continued its offensive on Gaza, with reports it was using remote-controlled vehicles packed with explosives to demolish entire neighbourhoods in besieged Gaza City after issuing a “last chance” demand that hundreds of thousands of trapped Palestinians leave the urban centre.
More than 66,200 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israel’s assault on Gaza since October 2023, according to Palestinian health authorities.
