Trump tells Israel to stop bombing Gaza, saying Hamas is ready for peace

US President Donald Trump on Saturday called on Israel to immediately stop its Gaza bombing campaign to secure the safe extraction of remaining hostages, after Hamas agreed to portions of his peace proposal.

On Friday, Hamas said it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of Trump’s 20-point plan and signalled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details. That leaves open the question of whether Hamas’ offer would satisfy Israel.

The US president rolled out his proposal on 29 September from the State Dining Room, alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Based on the Statement just issued by Hamas, I believe they are ready for a lasting PEACE. Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly!” Trump said on Truth Social. “Right now, it’s far too dangerous to do that.”

Israel believes Hamas is still holding 48 hostages, 20 of whom are thought to be alive.

In the statement shared with Reuters, the Palestinian armed group also agreed to hand over administration of the Gaza Strip to an independent Palestinian body with Arab and Muslim backing and said it would be willing to discuss other aspects of Trump’s proposal as part of talks.

Missing from the response were committments to disarm and relinquish role in Gaza’s future governance talks. Hamas said discussions about the future of Gaza should take place in the context of a “comprehensive Palestinian national framework” that it said it expected to contribute to and would be included in.

Senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk has told Al Jazeera the group would not disarm before the Israeli “occupation” ends, adding the issues over Gaza’s future should be discussed within a comprehensive Palestinian national framework, which Hamas will be part of, and not solely by non-Arab figures.

Despite Hamas reservations about some points in the peace plan, the US president signaled that he was willing to accept the initial terms of a deal. “We are already in discussions on details to be worked out. This is not about Gaza alone, this is about long sought PEACE in the Middle East,” Trump said.

The breakthrough came hours after Trump threatened to hunt down and kill Hamas members and gave the militant group a deadline of the evening of Sunday to respond to his proposal.

Trump’s peace plan does not explicitly address the idea of a future Palestinian state, which Netanyahu has appeared to rule out.