Trump Tells Israel to 'Immediately Stop' Bombing Gaza After Hamas Agrees to Hostage Release

US President Donald Trump on Friday said that Israel must "immediately" stop bombing the Gaza Strip after Hamas conditionally agreed to release the remaining Israeli and other hostages it has held since October 2023.

"Based on the Statement just issued by Hamas, I believe they are ready for a lasting PEACE. Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly!" Trump said on his Truth Social network. "Right now, it’s far too dangerous to do that. We are already in discussions on details to be worked out. This is not about Gaza alone, this is about long sought PEACE in the Middle East."

Hamas' statement, which Trump also posted on Truth Social, said the Gaza-based resistance group would hand over all hostages alive or dead, as long as "the field conditions for the exchange are met," and that it "affirms its readiness to immediately enter into negotiations through the mediators to discuss the details of this agreement."

"The movement also renews its agreement to hand over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian body of independents (technocrats), based on Palestinian national consensus and Arab and Islamic support," Hamas added.

"The other issues mentioned in President Trump’s proposal regarding the future of the Gaza Strip and the inherent rights of the Palestinian people are linked to a comprehensive national position and based on relevant international laws and resolutions," the group said. "They are to be discussed within a comprehensive Palestinian national framework. Hamas will be part of it and will contribute to it with full responsibility."

Hamas was referring to the 20-point plan proposed earlier this week by Trump, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly backed, even as the fugitive from the International Criminal Court reportedly seeks ways to alter its conditions and slow its implementation.

Under part of the plan, Hamas would release all 20 living and 28 dead hostages in exchange for 250 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel for murdering Israelis and 1,700 others detained by Israel in Gaza since October 2023.

It remains to be seen whether Netanyahu—who has infamously boasted of his ability to "very easily" manipulate the US government—will heed Trump's call to stop bombing Gaza, where 729 days of near-relentless Israeli assault and siege have left more than 244,000 Palestinians dead, wounded, or missing and around 2 million Gazans forcibly displaced, starved, or sickened.

Gaza media outlets reported fresh Israeli strikes in Gaza City and Khan Younis.

Some of Israel's most intense bombing of Gaza has occurred when ceasefire deals have seemed imminent; critics including relatives of the hostages have accused Netanyahu of prolonging the genocidal war in order to forestall a reckoning in his criminal corruption trial.

Thousands of Israel Defense Forces soldiers have been killed or wounded during Israel's effort to conquer, occupy, and ethnically cleanse Gaza. Many other IDF soldiers and veterans are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues as a result of their participation in what former United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths called the "worst crime of the 21st century."

Earlier Friday, Trump threatened to unleash "HELL, like no one has ever seen before" if Hamas did not assent to the deal by Sunday evening.

"The priority is to stop the war and massacres, and from this perspective, we responded positively to the Trump plan," Hamas leader Musa Abu Marzouk told Al Jazeera.

However Abu Marzouk said that a key point of the Trump plan requiring Hamas to disarm would be discussed at a later date, and that "handing over prisoners and bodies within 72 hours is theoretical and unrealistic under the current circumstances."