Trump Issues 'Last Warning' to Hamas Over Hostage Release

US President Donald Trump on Sunday gave what he declared was his “last warning” to Hamas to agree to his terms for ending the war, adding that Israel had accepted his proposed ceasefire and hostage-release agreement.

The message, sent in a social media post, doesn’t specify what those terms are. But Channel 12 reported Sunday that the current US proposal envisions the release of all hostages on the first day of a truce and, if subsequent talks bear fruit, the end of the war in Gaza.

“Everyone wants the hostages HOME. Everyone wants this war to end!” Trump wrote. “It is time for Hamas to accept [my terms] as well.”

“I have warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting. This is my last warning. There will not be another one,” Trump asserted.

Later Sunday, the US leader said he believed there would be a ceasefire deal “very soon,” reiterating claims he has made repeatedly in recent months.

“It’s a hell of a problem,” he said, but “it’s a problem we’re going to get done.”

Israel has not confirmed that it accepted Trump’s offer. But it is “very seriously considering” the proposal, according to a source close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“It seems that Hamas will continue its refusal,” the source said.

In its response late Sunday to Trump’s comments, Hamas said it was ready to immediately return to the negotiating table.

The terror group asserted that it was “ready to immediately sit at the negotiating table to discuss the release of all prisoners in exchange for a clear declaration to end the war, a total withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and creation of a committee of independent Palestinians to run the Gaza Strip.”

It added that it “welcomes any move that helps the efforts to stop the aggression against our people,” affirming that it received “some ideas from the American side aimed at reaching a ceasefire.”

Hamas says it is in “constant contact with the mediators to turn these ideas into a comprehensive agreement that meets our demands.”

Israel has dismissed such statements in the past as propaganda, and accused Hamas of not negotiating in good faith and putting forth unrealistic demands.

Trump has issued a similar ultimatum before, threatening Hamas with “HELL TO PAY” in a March post that he also claimed was his “last warning.”

Last week, Trump wrote on Truth Social that Hamas should “IMMEDIATELY give back all 20 Hostages,” in reference to the number of captives believed to still be alive.

On Sunday he said, “It could be a little bit less than 20 because they tend to die, even though they’re young people largely, they tend to die.”

“We have lets say 20 people and we have 38 bodies,” Trump told reporters, erring on the official Israeli count of bodies, which stands at 26. “I think we’re going to get them all.”

According to the reported proposal, Hamas would release all 48 hostages, living and dead, on day one, while Israel would release hundreds of Palestinian terrorists with blood on their hands, and thousands of other prisoners.

In addition, the IDF would call off its conquest of Gaza City and would remain outside the city, according to the report.

The two sides would engage in talks over the end of the war under the personal oversight of Trump, and the ceasefire would continue as long as negotiations last.

According to Channel 12, Trump and US special envoy Steve Witkoff came up with the idea during a round of golf a week ago. Witkoff passed the offer through unofficial Trump adviser Bishara Bahbah and Israeli activist Gershon Baskin, who was involved in brokering the 2011 deal to free captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian security prisoners.

Witkoff met with Qatari officials in Paris last week to discuss the idea. There have been multiple reports in recent days that the White House was pushing a new vision for a comprehensive deal, but more precise details emerged only on Sunday.

Channel 12 noted that the terror group is wary of offers that don’t go through Egypt and Qatar, and is reluctant to take Trump at his word after he didn’t give them anything in exchange for the release of US-Israeli citizen Edan Alexander earlier this year, though it had been understood he would pressure Israel to end the war.

The proposal came as Israel continues its offensive to conquer Gaza City — a plan that has garnered fierce international opposition, even among Israel’s allies, and criticism from the families of hostages who say the operation will risk the lives of their loved ones as well as soldiers.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum called on the government to announce its support for the reported proposal, calling it a “real potential breakthrough.”

“The agreement will advance a broad regional settlement, will result in the release of all hostages, and will allow soldiers and reservists to return home to rebuild their families and their livelihoods,” it said in a statement. “The agreement paves the way for Israel’s security and will end a perpetual war that has lasted almost two years.”

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said earlier Sunday that Israel was failing to respond to mediators working on a hostage-release deal, repeating previous claims he has made about the government ignoring efforts to advance negotiations.

Speaking at a Yesh Atid faction meeting in Tel Aviv during the Knesset’s summer recess, Lapid said senior officials from countries brokering the talks contacted him again last week.

“They said to me: ‘We don’t understand. We still haven’t received any answer. Not a positive one, not even a negative one. Israel simply isn’t responding,’” said Lapid.

He insisted a deal was within reach, noting that both the Israeli negotiating team and the military back a deal that would release the remaining 48 hostages, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive.

“There is a hostage deal on the table. It can be done, it must be done. Hamas has told the mediators it is ready for either a partial deal or a full one. What cannot be done is to not even try,” the opposition leader said.

In an apparent about-face after months of negotiations for a partial deal, Netanyahu has publicly declared that he will now entertain only a comprehensive deal that would see the release of all hostages. Netanyahu is also demanding that Hamas lay down its arms, that Gaza be demilitarized, that Israel retain overall security control in the enclave, and that governance of the Strip be turned over to a body that is neither Hamas nor the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority.

Hamas, the terror group that has ruled Gaza for almost two decades, released a statement on Saturday saying it “affirms its openness to any ideas or proposals that achieve a permanent ceasefire, a full withdrawal of the occupation forces from the Gaza Strip, the unconditional entry of aid, and a genuine prisoner exchange through serious negotiations mediated by third parties.”

The war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists invaded Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 64,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the ensuing fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed over 22,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.

Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas, including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.

Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 460.