Trump demands Israel end Gaza attack as Hamas responds to his peace proposal

Geoff Bennett:

Tonight, President Trump is demanding that Israel end the war in Gaza a short time after Hamas announced it had agreed to Mr. Trump's proposal to release all Israeli hostages held in Gaza. But the militant group responsible for the deadly October 7 attacks against Israel nearly two years ago did not agree to all of the president's framework.

Our Nick Schifrin is here tracking all of this.

So, Nick, what is President Trump demanding tonight?

Nick Schifrin:

Well, as you said, Geoff, just in the last hour, the president of the United States made a dramatic demand of Israel on TRUTH Social, writing — quote — "Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the hostages out safely and quickly."

That is the first time that either President Biden or President Trump publicly demanded that Israel stop the war since October the 7th. Now, as you said, the president's demand comes after Hamas' reply to the framework that President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released from the White House earlier this week.

So let's take a look at how Hamas replied to that. First, Hamas' first point — quote — "The movement announces the agreement to release all living and dead hostages, according to the exchange formula contained in President Trump's proposal."

So, as a reminder, that framework is to release 20 living hostages and the bodies of 30 deceased hostages released all up front. And then you see the second point right there. Hamas renews its agreement to hand over the administration of Gaza to a Palestinian body of independents technocrats.

Now, I emphasize Palestinian. We will come back to that point. The president is clearly focused, Geoff, on these two relatively positive parts of the Hamas statement, because there's a third part of what Hamas said, and it is a huge but — quote — "The other issues in the framework are linked to a comprehensive national position. They are to be discussed within a comprehensive Palestinian national framework."

Geoff Bennett:

So what does that mean?

Nick Schifrin:

It means that Hamas is not agreeing to key parts of this deal. Regional officials have been telling me for days that Hamas is not agreeing to demilitarize. And you see video of Hamas from earlier this year during a cease-fire.

Hamas will not demilitarize until it talks to the other Palestinian militant groups. And that is not a guarantee that it's going to agree. and of course, that is a key, a key demand that Israel is making.

Secondly, regional officials also told me that Hamas had questions about the map, you see it right there, where and exactly when Israeli troops will withdraw to and when Hamas has to release the hostages. Thirdly, tonight, a political Hamas official says that they will not allow a non-Palestinian to control Gaza.

And, of course, Geoff, as we talked about, the president's plan calls for a Board of Peace to transition power in Gaza with the president himself and former Prime Minister of Britain Tony Blair as the head of that board. So these are huge questions that Hamas is asking, including ones that will lead Israel not to be happy with Hamas' reply, not to accept Hamas' reply.

But President Trump is taking Hamas' answer as yes and putting Israel in an extraordinary way to stop the war.

Geoff Bennett:

So, then the question becomes, where does all of this leave Netanyahu?

Nick Schifrin:

It's a very good question, and I think one of the two key questions that we have tonight.

The first one is, how far is President Trump willing to go to pressure Netanyahu? White House officials have told me in the past that they have — that he, President Trump, has not been happy with Netanyahu and that he did pressure Netanyahu earlier this week to accept the terms of the deal and he wants to see this war over full stop.

Will that translate now into President Trump, for example, saying, hey, we will withhold arms, for example, to Netanyahu? Netanyahu, however, has his own political considerations. He has to go to an election within one year. The right wing of his coalition certainly has already criticized this peace proposal that Netanyahu agreed to earlier this week.

And they will put pressure on Netanyahu to resist President Trump's plans. Look, we have seen pressure privately mostly from Trump on Netanyahu and his top aides. And Netanyahu and his top aides in the past have managed to figure out a way to persuade Trump more to their perspective.

So certainly they will try to do that once again this time. But at the end of the day, it is up to President Trump how much he will pressure Netanyahu in this moment to actually end the war, how much he will pressure Netanyahu to consider this Hamas reply good enough, and then will Netanyahu listen?

Geoff Bennett:

Nick Schifrin, thank you so much for walking us through these developments. We appreciate it.

Nick Schifrin:

Thank you.