Trump says a deal on Gaza could come soon, issues ‘last warning’ to Hamas

Hamas confirms receiving ideas from the US on ending the war on Gaza, but Israel has yet to comment on Trump’s proposal.

United States President Donald Trump has said his administration is working on a solution that could be good for Gaza, hours after issuing what he called a “final warning” to Hamas.

Trump made the comments to reporters on Sunday after arriving in Washington, DC, following a brief trip to New York.

“We’re working on a solution that may be very good,” he said, describing Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza and Hamas’s holding of dozens of Israeli captives as a “hell of a problem”.

“It’s a problem we want to solve for the Middle East, for Israel, for everybody. But it’s a problem we’re going to get done,” he said.

“You’ll be hearing about it pretty soon. We’re trying to get it ended, get the hostages back,” he added.

Earlier on Sunday, Trump said he had put forward a new proposal to end the war in Gaza, saying that Israel had accepted his terms. He went on to warn Hamas to accept his conditions, saying that he informed the group about the “consequences” of turning down the offer.

Throughout the 23-month war, US officials have repeatedly claimed that Israel has accepted ceasefire efforts, even as Israeli leaders continued to publicly pledge to intensify their offensive, which leading rights groups and scholars have described as a genocide.

“Everyone wants the Hostages HOME. Everyone wants this War to end!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

The US president has previously issued similar verbal warnings to Hamas and predicted that the war would end soon. Most recently, on August 25, Trump said he thought the war would come to a “conclusive ending” within three weeks.

There was no immediate comment from Israel on Trump’s latest offer.

But The Times of Israel, citing a source close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the Israeli government was “seriously considering” the proposal.

Hamas confirms receiving ‘ideas’

For its part, Hamas confirmed receiving “ideas” from the US for ending the war.

“Hamas welcomes any initiative that helps in the efforts to stop the aggression against our people,” the group said.

Trump told reporters on Sunday that he thought all the captives would be returned, saying, “I think we’re going to get them all.”

He noted that some may already have died, but the aim would be to have their bodies returned.

Hamas has previously said it was willing to release all of the captives in one go in exchange for an end to the war and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.

According to Israeli media, Trump’s latest offer requires Hamas to free all the remaining captives on the first day of the truce in exchange for thousands of Palestinian prisoners jailed in Israel.

Israel would also call off its large-scale offensive in Gaza City, while negotiations to end the war would begin under the personal oversight of Trump, The Times of Israel reported.

Trump’s proposal comes as Israel steps up its campaign to capture Gaza City against the pleas of rights groups and Western officials.

The US president has been a staunch supporter of Israel. Last week, his administration imposed sanctions on Palestinian rights groups for cooperating with the International Criminal Court’s investigation into Israeli abuses.

Trump also previously called for removing all Palestinians from Gaza and turning the enclave into a US-owned “Riviera of the Middle East” – a plan that rights advocates decried as an ethnic cleansing push.

Netanyahu has embraced Trump’s mass displacement proposal, presenting the push to ethnically cleanse Gaza as an effort to allow Palestinians to voluntarily leave the territory.