US President issues 'final warning' to Hamas over hostage deal
US President Donald Trump said on September 7 that he was issuing a "final warning" to Hamas, saying the Palestinian Islamist movement must accept a deal to release hostages in Gaza.
On the social network TruthSocial, Mr. Trump stated: "Everyone wants the hostages to come home. Everyone wants this war to end! The Israelis have accepted my terms. It is time for Hamas to accept as well. I have warned Hamas of the consequences if they do not accept. This is my final warning, there will be no more."
In a statement released shortly afterwards, Hamas said it was ready to "immediately sit down at the negotiating table" after receiving what it described as "some ideas from the US side to reach a ceasefire agreement".
The US news agency Axios reported on the same day that White House special envoy Steve Witkoff sent a new proposal for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal to Hamas last week. The White House has not released any details.
In early March, Mr Trump issued a similar ultimatum to Hamas, demanding the immediate release of all remaining hostages and the bodies of those who had died, saying that otherwise, “it would be over”.
The statements from the US president and Hamas came as the Israeli military struck an apartment building in Gaza City - the third residential building hit in three days - after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the military was "intensifying" its assault on the vital urban centre, saying around 100,000 residents had fled the area.
Witness Mohammed Al-Nazli told AFP the attack on the Al-Roya towers “felt like an earthquake”. The air force flattened two other residential high-rises on the same pretext that Hamas had been using them as observation posts.
The escalation has raised concerns about further deterioration of the already dire humanitarian conditions for Palestinians living in the area.
On September 6, many Israelis took to the streets to call on the government to reverse its decision to occupy Gaza City, worried about the fate of hostages believed to be held there.
