'Accept by Sunday 6 pm or all hell will break loose': Donald Trump issues ultimatum to Hamas

In a post on TruthSocial, Trump said: "Hamas has been a ruthless and violent threat, for many years, in the Middle East! They have killed (and made lives unbearably miserable), culminating with the October 7th MASSACRE, in Israel, babies, woman, children, old people, and many young men and women, boys and girls, getting ready to celebrate their future lives together."

Trump’s social-media message repeated elements of the plan he unveiled earlier this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a ceasefire, the rapid release of hostages, the disarmament of Hamas, and a phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza to be followed by an international interim authority overseen in part by U.S. leadership.

Trump also told reporters this week that Hamas would have “three or four days” to respond.

The president’s post included an explicit threat of intensified military action if the group does not accept the proposal, saying many Hamas fighters are “surrounded and MILITARILY TRAPPED” and signalling the US would give the order to strike.

The warning prompted immediate international concern about the risk of a renewed surge in fighting.

Hamas officials said they were still reviewing the proposal. Mohammad Nazzal, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, told AFP that the plan contained “points of concern” and that the group would announce its position soon.

Mediators, including Qatar and Egypt, have been cited by officials as intermediaries in consultations with the group.

The terms of the plan have already provoked sharp criticism across the region and beyond because it conditions Palestinian concessions, notably disarmament and governance changes, on outcomes that many Palestinians and their supporters say do not guarantee a viable path to statehood.

Critics warn the proposal risks sidelining long-standing demands for an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Israel has voiced strong support for the proposal; Prime Minister Netanyahu stood alongside Trump when the plan was announced.

But Hamas continues to insist that any handover of hostages must be matched by a durable ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal, conditions that remain points of major disagreement.

The fast-moving ultimatum places intense diplomatic pressure on mediators and on Hamas ahead of the weekend deadline. International aid agencies have warned that large parts of Gaza remain devastated and that civilians face enormous risks if hostilities resume at scale.