October 6, 2025

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Hamas Responds to the Trump 20 Point Plan

AP Photo/Abed Hajjar

On Friday, Hamas issued a formal response to President Donald Trump’s “20 Point Plan” for a resolution of the conflict in the Gaza Strip, stating conditional acceptance of parts of the Trump initiative but declining to address the plan’s entire outline for the “day after” in Gaza. The group issued its response in advance of a Sunday deadline Trump had set for Hamas to either respond or risk a U.S. “green light” for further advances of Israeli forces in Gaza City and against other Hamas strongholds. In the statement, Hamas “announce[d] its approval of releasing all occupation (Israeli) prisoners-both living and remains-according to the exchange formula contained in President Trump’s proposal, with the necessary field conditions for implementing the exchange.” The Trump plan calls for the release of all Israeli hostages within 72 hours of acceptance of the plan, after which Israel would free “250 life sentence prisoners plus 1,700 Gazans who were detained after 7 October 2023, including all women and children detained in that context. For every Israeli hostage whose remains are released, Israel will release the remains of 15 deceased Gazans.” On Saturday, Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a smaller, Iran-backed group that might be holding several of the Israeli hostages, indicated it would back Hamas’ acceptance of the Trump plan.

The “day after” governing and security formula for Gaza — issues addressed extensively in the Trump plan — has long been the stumbling block to achieving a resolution of the Gaza conflict. Hamas’ acceptance statement appeared to agree to one aspect of the Trump plan’s vision for the day after — governance arrangements. Hamas acknowledged publicly what key Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt have asserted for months — that Hamas is willing to hand governing power to a Palestinian committee of technocrats. But, questioned on national media on Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that ongoing negotiations between Hamas and Israel are not yet the end of the war and that setting up a group to govern Gaza would take “some time,” but emphasized that there was a plan to do so. He explained: “You can’t set up a governance structure in Gaza that’s not Hamas in three days.”

Hamas did not accept, or even address, the components of the Trump plan that stipulate security arrangements for post-war Gaza, including the deployment of an international security force, the provisions for Hamas’ disarmament, and an international supervisory board that oversees and facilitates the governance and reconstruction of Gaza. Hamas’ omission fueled Israeli and global criticism that Hamas still refuses to accept its disarmament and remains committed to violent resistance. Although many regional and global officials widely hailed Hamas’ conditional acceptance of the plan, few experts expect that Hamas and Israel will be able to resolve their seemingly irreconcilable differences over postwar Gaza security arrangements. Reports suggest that some Hamas militia commanders inside Gaza, including known hardliners, viewed the Hamas acceptance of the Trump plan as an unacceptable agreement to “surrender.”

Even as most of his plan remained unsettled, President Trump immediately sought to paint Hamas’ response as ending the Gaza conflict. His public optimism, at least in part, sought to box Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leaders into quickly implementing the initial stages of his plan, including a ceasefire and hostage release. Trump posted on social media a video message from the Oval Office in which he argued the Hamas statement brought the global community “very close to achieving” an end to the Gaza conflict and “peace in the Middle East.” Trump also thanked Arab and other regional mediators, including Qatar, Egypt, and Türkiye, for persuading Hamas leaders to agree to release the Israeli hostages. Later, Trump posted another message on social media stating: “Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the hostages out safely and quickly! Right now, it’s far too dangerous to do that. We are already in discussions on details to be worked out.”

Netanyahu and other Israeli officials publicly welcomed the Hamas commitment to release the hostages, but expressed far greater pessimism that the war would end than did Trump. Nonetheless, seeking to avoid contradicting Trump publicly, Netanyahu and his team announced preparations to receive the hostages and indicated they would comply with Trump’s demand that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) halt the offensive against Gaza City. Saturday morning, Netanyahu’s office stated that: “In light of Hamas’ response, Israel is preparing to immediately implement the first phase of Trump’s plan for the immediate release of all hostages.” IDF officers indicated they would move to a “defensive” posture as a first step toward implementing the Israeli commitments under the Trump plan. However, neither Netanyahu nor any other Israeli leaders indicated they had abandoned their insistence that Hamas’ military capacity be eliminated, and its militias disarmed.

Trump welcomed Israel’s pledges of cooperation, while also nodding to Israeli assertions that Hamas would seek to delay the release of remaining Israeli hostages. He posted on social media: “I appreciate that Israel has temporarily stopped the bombing in order to give the Hostage release and Peace Deal a chance to be completed. Hamas must move quickly, or else all bets will be off. I will not tolerate delay, which many think will happen, or any outcome where Gaza poses a threat again. Let’s get this done FAST. Everyone will be treated fairly!” Trump also sought to commit Israel to a rapid timeframe for a ceasefire, posting on social media: “After negotiations, Israel has agreed to the initial (IDF) withdrawal line, which we have shown to, and shared with, Hamas. When Hamas confirms, the Ceasefire will be IMMEDIATELY effective, the Hostages and Prisoner Exchange will begin…” The initial withdrawal line Israel has agreed to — the so-called “yellow line” — represents the positions the IDF held before it began its push against Gaza City in August. As of Sunday, Hamas had not yet accepted the proposed initial Israel withdrawal line, and Israeli officers described their operations as a “reduction of fire, but not a full ceasefire.” Reports from Gaza indicated the IDF is continuing to conduct selective bombing raids on Hamas positions in Gaza.

To try to maintain the diplomatic momentum, Trump dispatched top aides to finalize details for the hostage release and Palestinian prisoner release, and work toward agreement on outstanding components of the Trump plan. U.S. Special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who spearheaded a failed Israeli-Palestinian final settlement initiative during Trump’s first term, on Sunday began several days of talks in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Participating in the negotiations, although not in direct contact with each other, were Hamas negotiators and an Israeli team led by close Netanyahu aide Ron Dermer, Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister. Officials from the two key Arab mediators, Qatar and Egypt, were involved in the talks as well. Trump sources emphasized that the U.S. delegation underscored the U.S. determination to ensure the deal proceeds as planned.

Even as Trump’s team and regional mediators sought to move the parties in Egypt toward a rapid ceasefire and hostage release, they acknowledged that the parties are still far apart on core issues. Differences on any one of the pivotal issues threatens to unravel the implementation of the Trump plan. Hamas leaders assessed that the Trump plan puts the group at a strategic disadvantage: releasing the last of the Israeli hostages would deprive the group of its remaining leverage, whereas Netanyahu could, on any number of pretexts, resume the IDF offensive against remaining Hamas strongholds. Hamas has long tied the release of remaining hostages to a permanent and inviolable end to the war, and it remained unclear whether the group would proceed with releasing the hostages unless its demand for war termination is met.

Hamas political leaders leading the group’s delegation have not, by all accounts, prevailed on Hamas militia commanders inside Gaza that they will need to disarm. And Netanyahu, flanked by hardliners within his political coalition, has not dropped the insistence that Hamas’ military wing be thoroughly eliminated as a condition for a complete IDF withdrawal. Nor were any Israeli leaders expressing a willingness to accept a pathway toward the formation of an independent Palestinian state — a potential outcome referenced in the Trump plan. The Trump plan’s proposed “International Stabilization Force” — a peacekeeping unit that would secure Gaza temporarily and train a permanent Palestinian police force for the enclave — has not been assembled and cannot deploy to Gaza “immediately,” as the Trump plan stipulates. Still, on Sunday, Netanyahu told Israelis he expected the hostages to be released in the coming week and regional and global leaders appeared to share Trump’s optimism that his Gaza plan might bring the conflict to an end.