On 6th October, US President Donald Trump said that that the talks with Palestinian Islamic terror group, Hamas, have been “very successful, and proceeding rapidly.” This comes days after Trump proposed a agreed upon by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and welcomed by several countries.
Taking to Truth Social, President Trump said, “There have been very positive discussions with Hamas, and Countries from all over the World (Arab, Muslim, and everyone else) this weekend, to release the Hostages, end the War in Gaza but, more importantly, finally have long sought PEACE in the Middle East. These talks have been very successful, and proceeding rapidly.”
Trump further informed that the technical teams involved in talks will meet again in Egypt on Monday to work through the final details of the peace plan. The US President urged all the stakeholders to “move fast”.
“The technical teams will again meet Monday, in Egypt, to work through and clarify the final details. I am told that the first phase should be completed this week, and I am asking everyone to MOVE FAST. I will continue to monitor this Centuries old “conflict.”,” Trump said.
While highlighting the “positive” progress in the implementation of the Gaza Peace Plan, the US President did not forget to threaten Hamas and stated in his usual bold letters style of adding emphasis, “TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE OR, MASSIVE BLOODSHED WILL FOLLOW – SOMETHING THAT NOBODY WANTS TO SEE!”
Even though Donald Trump may have real and serious intentions of ending the Israel-Hamas war, apparently, to solidify his Nobel Peace Prize claim, his 20-point Gaza Peace Plan is not turning into reality on ground so far.
As it has been in the past, the deadlines and ceasefires fall apart even before their tangible implementation, this time as well, there has been no real ceasefire. Both Israel and Hamas have given their nod to 20-point-proposal, which essentially provides that there will be an immediate end to violence. However, while Hamas, Israeli and the US negotiators are heading to meet in Cairo for discussion of ceasefire deal, Israel bombed several areas in Gaza, killing around 70 people in the last 24 hours. This came when Trump thanked Israel for stopping bombing temporarily and announced Israel has agreed to the “initial withdrawal line” in Gaza, a move that could soon lead to a ceasefire and the release of hostages held by Hamas.
Notably, the Hamas delegation is led by top negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, who was among those targeted in an Israeli assassination attempt in Doha, Qatar, last month. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, the foreign minister of Qatar, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and US special envoy Steve Witkoff will also be present.
The 20-point-proposal further states that once the plan is agreed upon by both the conflicting parties, all dead and alive hostages will be returned within 72 hours. Israel has expressed readiness for releasing thousands of detained Gazans including some Hamas terrorists, Hamas has not divulged much on its intentions to release Israeli hostages which include 20 living Israelis and remains of the dead despite agreeing to release all hostages.
In its statement issued on Friday, Hamas said that it “affirms its readiness to immediately enter into negotiations through the mediators to discuss the details of this agreement. The movement also renews its agreement to hand over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian body of independents (technocrats), based on Palestinian national consensus and Arab and Islamic support.”
Trump’s peace plan was initially welcomed by one and all. Israel supports it, Hamas claims to have agreed to it, Palestinian Authority backs it, Islamic countries gave tepid endorsement, although US’s freshly-acquired doormat, Pakistan has backtracked. While the peace plan calls for immediate cessation of violence, essentially a “ceasefire”, Israel has made it clear that its there is no ceasefire but only a temporary halt in some bombings. An Israeli government spokesperson has said that the military operations in Gaza will continue for “defensive purposes”.
Hamas also continues to maintain its violent presence in conflict zone. It remains to be seen if Hamas accepts Trump’s non-negotiable terms of full disarmament and ceding governance, which essentially means a political suicide for the Palestinian Islamic terror group. OpIndia has reported earlier, Palestinian people, including the Gazans, have, over the years, be it in elections or surveys, expressed unwavering support for Hamas. It is unlikely that Hamas would truly agree to ending its existence as an armed outfit.
Hamas enjoys popular support of Palestinians, and the Hamas Covenant of 1988, also known as the Hamas Charter, outlines Hamas’s ideological standpoint regarding Israel, Palestine, and the larger conflict between Jews and Muslims. One of the key assertions in the charter is that all of Israel, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, is considered Waqf land that belongs exclusively to Muslims.
This argument is based on the concept that once a land has been claimed by Islam, it will never return to non-Muslim control. Thus, Hamas considers all of Israel to be ‘illegitimately occupied’ by the Jews and is hell-bent on bringing it under Islamic autonomy.
The Palestinian Islamic terrorist group Hamas has clearly stated in its charter that the Palestinian movement aims to establish the supremacy of Allah over “every inch of Palestine”. The Hamas Charter has declared Israel as an Islamic Waqf hallowed for the coming Muslim generations until the Yawm ad-Din or Judgment Day. This essentially means that either Hamas has abandoned its Islamic beliefs pertaining to Israel and Jews and truly committed to peaceful co-existence or is pretending to support Trump’s plan to secure a reprieve from Israel’s attack and violent annihilation, which Trump has said would back if Hamas rejects his proposal.
The ceasefire, as provided in Trump’s peace proposal, not taking effect is not surprising. There is a history of failed deadlines and ceasefires between Israel and Hamas. The first ceasefire agreement, starting from 24th November 2023, broke down on 1st December 2023, after Israel resumed full military operations since Hamas violated the ceasefire. Between December 2023 and January 2024, multiple proposals also did not yield lasting positive results. The second major ceasefire comprising 6-week phases also fell apart despite Hamas releasing 18 living hostages and Israel freeing over 730 prisoners. As Hamas continued to mobilise forces, Israel conducted airstrikes on 18th March 2024. Even the US tried to intervene; however, it could not secure a lasting ceasefire.
Even before his “massive bloodshed” threat to Hamas, Trump ‘warned’ Hamas that to “move quickly” to finalise the peace deal or face severe consequences.
However, it has been more than 72 hours since Israel publicly accepted Trump’s peace proposal and yet, not a single Israeli hostage has been released by Hamas. Without Hamas releasing the hostages, how Israel will release 250 life sentence prisoners plus 1700 Gazans who were detained after October 7th 2023, as per the proposal’s point five.
In a nutshell, no ceasefire, no hostage release and no disarmament of Hamas has taken effect so far reflecting the gap in Trump’s rhetoric and Gaza’s reality. Not to forget, while Trump’s plan proposes withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and backs a Palestinian statehood, Prime Minister Netanyahu has said that the IDF “will remain in most of the territory” as part of the plan drawn up with Trump, and that Israel did “absolutely not” agree to a Palestinian state.
The only outcome Trump’s threats and ultimatums have solicited so far is Hamas’s agreement to show up at the negotiation table in Cairo’s Sharm-al-Sheikh. Apparently, much like Trump’s promise of ending the Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours of assuming presidency, his 20-point Gaza Peace Plan is also a case of much promised, little delivered.
If expediting the process of negotiations is requiring Trump to threaten Hamas intermittently, what will it take to ensure swift implementation of the peace plan if Hamas agrees to voluntary unarming and political dismantling. It is, however, delusional to expect hardened Islamic terrorists to suddenly start believing in peaceful coexistence and lay down arms. There is no guarantee that Hamas will not regroup and pose threat to Israel’s security. If Hamas comes up in future in new form and violates peace, the situation will come back to where it was.