Egypt ‘working to convince Hamas’ as White House says Trump will determine timeframe to accept Gaza plan

‘Using Hamas as an excuse to kill civilians’

“Let’s not give any excuse for one party to use Hamas as a pretext for this mad daily killings of civilians. What’s happening is far beyond the seventh of October,” he said.

“It is beyond revenge. This is ethnic cleansing and genocide in motion. So enough is enough,” Abdelatty said.

Trump gave Hamas 3-4 days

Earlier this week, the White House unveiled a 20-point document that called for an immediate ceasefire, an exchange of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, a staged Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, Hamas disarmament and a transitional government led by an international body.

Trump, who made the announcement, gave Hamas three to four days to agree to the plan.

Egypt is a key mediator in efforts to end the Gaza war and Abdelatty said Cairo was coordinating with Qatar and Turkey to convince Hamas to respond positively to the plan, but he remained very cautious.

“If Hamas refuses, you know, then it would be very difficult. And of course, we will have more escalation. So that’s why we are exerting our intensive efforts in order to make this plan applicable and to get the approval of Hamas,” he said.

Hamas has so far not publicly commented on whether the militant group would be willing to accept the deal that could effectively make them irrelevant in Palestine.

‘Hamas would accept’

Another senior Egyptian politician, Diaa Rashwan, also said that Hamas would accept the 20-point Trump Gaza plan with some reservations.

“I expect Hamas will confirm its approval with reservations or clarifications, but not outright refusal,” Rashwan told Sky News.

Islamic Jihad rejects Trump Gaza plan

While Hamas remained non-committal, Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian militant group, slammed the plan.

“It is a recipe for continued aggression against the Palestinian people. Through this, Israel is attempting – via the United States – to impose what it could not achieve through war,” the group said in a statement.

“Therefore, we consider the American-Israeli declaration a formula for igniting the region,” the group added.

Trump will draw a red line: Leavitt

Meanwhile, the White House on Thursday said Trump will draw a red line on how long to give Hamas to accept the deal without explicitly saying whether he would enforce a previously set deadline.

Asked on the Fox News program “America’s Newsroom” to identify a point at which Hamas would be considered to have “walked away” from the proposal, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said:

“Well, it’s a very good question, and it’s a red line that the president of the United States is going to have to draw. And I’m confident that he will. But the president and his team worked very hard on this 20-point, comprehensive, detailed plan that has been applauded all over the world.”

“This is an acceptable plan, and we hope and we expect Hamas should accept this plan so we can move forward,” Leavitt added.

The plan specifies an immediate ceasefire, an exchange of all hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, a staged Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas and the introduction of a transitional government led by an international body.