Trump sets Sunday deadline for Hamas to accept his ceasefire proposal

Trump said on Friday that Hamas must accept the deal by 6 pm Eastern Time (2200GMT) on Sunday, saying that if it is not consented to by then, "all hell, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas."

"As retribution for the October 7th (2023) attack on civilization, more than 25,000 Hamas 'soldiers' have already been killed. Most of the rest are surrounded and militarily trapped, just waiting for me to give the word, 'go,' for their lives to be quickly extinguished," Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

"As for the rest, we know where and who you are, and you will be hunted down, and killed. I am asking that all innocent Palestinians immediately leave this area of potentially great future death for safer parts of Gaza. Everyone will be well cared for by those that are waiting to help," he added.

Trump did not specify which area "of potentially great future death" he was referring to, but Israel has been escalating its campaign in Gaza City in recent weeks.

Asked if there are limits to what the White House would support in Gaza, spokesperson Karoline Leavitt later said Trump "has deep concerns about all of the atrocities that have taken place in the Middle East over the past few years."

"Right now, the president has made it very clear to Hamas that this is an acceptable and detailed proposal that they must accept, or the consequences are going to be very grave for them," she told reporters.

"Hamas has an opportunity to accept this plan and to move forward in a peaceful and prosperous manner in the region, and if they don't, the consequences, unfortunately are going to be very tragic," she added.

The UN said Thursday that more than 417,000 people have been displaced from northern Gaza since mid-August, warning of dire and unsafe conditions in the south, where civilians have been told to move by Israeli forces.

UN relief chief Tom Fletcher stressed on the US social media company X that "fighting continues in Gaza City. Access to the north is difficult. Need for unimpeded humanitarian effort, but many humanitarians forced to suspend ops."

"Issuing displacement orders does not absolve parties to conflict from responsibilities: many civilians remain and must be protected," he added.

Israel has maintained a blockade on Gaza, home to nearly 2.4 million people, for nearly 18 years. It further tightened the siege in March when it closed border crossings and blocked food and medicine deliveries, pushing the enclave into famine.

Since October 2023, Israeli bombardment has killed nearly 66,300 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The UN and rights groups have repeatedly warned that the enclave is being rendered uninhabitable, with starvation and disease spreading rapidly amid widespread displacement.