US President Donald Trump warned Tuesday that unless Hamas accepts his new 20-point peace plan he unveiled on Monday, it faces military destruction by Israel. "Hamas has 3-4 days to respond to the proposal. If not – Israel will do what it needs to do," he said.
"All of the Arab countries are signed up, the Muslim countries all signed up, Israel's all signed up. We're just waiting for Hamas, and Hamas is either going to be doing it or not — and if it's not, it's going to be a very sad end," Trump said.
Video: Trump and Netanyahu on Sept. 30, 2025 / Credit: Reuters
Hamas has already submitted a series of clarification demands to Qatar regarding Trump's plan, after receiving it officially Monday. A draft of the plan was already in the hands of Hamas leaders from last week, and yesterday following the press conference held by Netanyahu and Trump, it was delivered to its senior officials who remain mostly in Qatar.
According to an Arab diplomatic source from the Gulf, Hamas conveyed several demands for clarifications. One is a demand to guarantee the future of its senior officials from Israeli assassinations in the future. The agreement states that those among them who express willingness to live in coexistence with Israel will receive amnesty, while regarding the rest it states they will be able to leave safely to asylum countries but without an Israeli commitment not to harm them.
A second demand was clarification regarding the pace of the IDF withdrawal. Hamas previously demanded that the release of hostages be carried out with an IDF withdrawal to the Gaza border zone, and in the agreement a map was outlined showing a gradual withdrawal in three stages conditional on the agreement's progress. Hamas also requested clarifications on the American and international commitment to maintaining the ceasefire after the hostage release, and expressed reservations about the full release of all hostages in the first days (within 72 hours according to Trump) following the signing.
Hamas claims it will take several days and possibly weeks until it will be possible to organize the release of all hostages, both living and deceased. Hamas requested clarifications on when the full withdrawal from the Strip will be carried out and under what conditions. According to the diplomatic source, Hamas expressed its principled opposition to the issue of surrendering "defensive" weapons, but has not yet announced its final position on the issue.
The Arab diplomatic source says Hamas' current conduct is hesitant due to the full support of all Arab countries for the agreement including Qatar, and in addition its second sponsor, Turkey, also supports advancing the agreement and is expected to play a more substantial role in dealings with it. The only one remaining with it now is Iran, but it is facing its own problems with the activation of the snapback sanctions mechanism. The source estimated that a response will be given within days, a response that will accept many of the agreement's clauses but will demand changes in some of them, primarily the issue of weapons surrender and gradualness in the timing of hostage release.
The best achievable outcome
Israeli sources who were involved in formulating the plan to end the war say that under the existing circumstances, it is the best outcome that could be achieved.
One source noted that Hamas will not emerge without achievements from the framework. "They will receive the release of prisoners, which is an important narrative in Palestinian society. Additionally, Hamas members who remained in Gaza will be able to leave it and receive protection. This is a major achievement for them," says one of the sources who was updated on the developing framework back in March.
"All of the Arab countries are signed up, the Muslim countries all signed up, Israel's all signed up. We're just waiting for Hamas, and Hamas is either going to be doing it or not — and if it's not, it's going to be a very sad end." Another Israeli source who was involved in preparing the plan addressed the criticism heard from the right and said that even if there are those who think the goal of returning the hostages is in second place, then in the prime minister's view, it is impossible to end the war without achieving it. This is partly to preserve national cohesion.
According to the source, Netanyahu's responsibility as a leader is to take such considerations into account, beyond all other aspects. He emphasized that the framework is good for Israel in the existing reality, achieves the war objectives, and that only a few weeks ago it was impossible to imagine we would achieve it.
