Hamas agrees to release Israeli hostages but sets conditions

Hamas agreed to release the last of the hostages from its 2023 attack on Israel but said the rest of a U.S. peace plan would be subject to negotiation, a stance that offered uncertain hopes for an end to the conflict in Gaza.

President Donald Trump responded favorably to the Hamas statement even though the group failed to address other key elements of his 20-point proposal that Israel has also demanded, including that it disarm.

He called on Israel to stop its bombing campaign and said discussions were underway on “details to be worked out,” suggesting that he was willing to give Hamas some leeway.

“I believe they are ready for a lasting PEACE,” Trump said of Hamas in a social media post. “Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly!”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was prepared for the implementation of the “first stage” of Trump’s plan, apparently referring to the release of hostages.

But his office said in a statement that Israel was committed to ending the war based on principles it has set out before, without addressing potential gaps with Hamas.

A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said he “urges all parties to seize the opportunity to bring the tragic conflict in Gaza to an end.” French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on social media that “the release of all hostages and a ceasefire in Gaza are within reach!”

The main organization representing the families of Israeli hostages said Trump’s demand to halt the fighting “is essential to prevent serious and irreversible harm to the hostages.” It called on Netanyahu “to immediately begin efficient and swift negotiations to bring all our hostages home.”

Arab nations had put strong pressure on Hamas to agree to Trump’s proposal. Egypt and Qatar both voiced approval of the Hamas statement.

In its statement, Hamas said it agreed “to release all Israeli prisoners — both living and deceased — in accordance with the exchange formula outlined in President Trump’s proposal, and contingent upon the necessary field conditions for carrying out the exchange.”

Hamas also said the hostages would need to be released “in a manner that ensures the cessation of the war and the full withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.”

The group said other parts of Trump’s 20-point plan “require a unified national stance and must be addressed based on relevant international laws and resolutions.”

“We will enter negotiations regarding all issues related to the movement and weapons,” senior Hamas official Musa Abu Marzouk said to Qatari network Al Jazeera. “We agreed to the plan in principle based on its main points, but its implementation requires negotiations.”

But Abu Marzouk said it might be difficult for Hamas to release all the hostages within 72 hours, because it could take days or weeks to locate the remains of some of the captives.

He said Hamas was willing to hand over its weapons to a future Palestinian body that runs Gaza, but there was no mention of that in the official statement.

Another Hamas official, Osama Hamdan, told Al Araby television that Hamas would refuse foreign administration of the Gaza Strip and that the entry of foreign forces would be “unacceptable.”

Under Trump’s plan, Gaza would be placed under international governance, with Trump himself and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair overseeing it.

Trump had warned earlier Friday that Hamas had until 6 p.m. EDT on Sunday to accept the proposal he had announced earlier in the week with Netanyahu. Otherwise, “all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas,” the U.S. president said in a social-media post on Friday.

Thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, attacking army bases, farming communities and an outdoor music festival, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians. They abducted 251 others, most of them since released in ceasefires or other deals.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 66,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants.