The Trump administration has started direct interviews with Hamas To obtain the release of American citizens still held hostage to Gaza. The news, reported by the correspondent of AxiosBarak Ravid. According to two anonymous sources mentioned by Ravidthe negotiations involve the US correspondent Adam Boehler and concentrate, with due caution, on the possible liberation of five American citizens kidnapped during the attack of October 7, 2023. Among them, only Edan Alexander would still be alive, even if his conditions remain a mystery. In addition to the fate of American hostages, the talks aim to explore a wider agreement for the release of all 59 prisoners still in the hands of Hamas, living or dead, and to discuss a possible understanding that definitively ends with the war. According to the rumors, the meetings would have held in Doha, in Qatar. In this regard, Israel’s signals of dissatisfaction with the interviews between the United States and Hamas emerge. The office of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, He released a concise but significant declaration: “Israel expressed his position on the United States regarding the direct interviews with Hamas”.
The plan of the Arab countries rejected by the White House
In February, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, announced a plan that the United States took control of the Gaza Strip, allowing residents to move to another country during the reconstruction phase, if they had chosen it. Over the past month, the Trump administration has repeatedly reiterated this proposal, rejecting the alternative plan advanced by Egypt, which provided for the reconstruction of Gaza without the transfer of the population. The White House stressed that, while welcoming the contribution of the Arab countries, “ad Hamas must not be allowed to remain in Gaza based on any plan”.
The ambiguity and divisions between the Arab countries emerged evidently in the final declaration of the summit. As pointed out by New York Times The text reiterates the need to grant Palestinians an independent state, a perspective that, however, the current Israeli government has always excluded. Furthermore, there is no clear reference to whether and how to proceed with the disarmament of Hamas, a central question in the crisis. On the one hand, Israel and the Trump administration consider the dismantling of the group’s military wing essential, considered a direct threat to Israeli security; on the other, demilitarization represents a critical node for Hamas, making it even more complex if not impossible to search for a shared solution.
At the end of February, Trump said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had supported any line of action had decided to adopt after the release of the corpses of the children Bibas, Ariel and Kfir, brutally murdered by their kidnappers in November 2023. By commenting on the propaganda of Hamas before the terrorist group delivered the bodies of the two children, Trump said to Brian. Kilmeade Show of Fox Radio: «These were children. It is hard stuff. It is hard stuff. It seemed that they were celebrating as they brought back the bodies. The scene is not even credible, it is so Barbara. One might think that this cannot even happen in the modern era. Yesterday was really terrible because we talk about children. This is really a low level ».
The meeting with the Hostage Liberated and the Trump’s ultimatum
Last Wednesday the president of United States He met a group of hostages recently released by Hamas. The delegation that donated a plaque to the US President, included the survivors for imprisonment Eli SharabiKEith and Aviva Siegel, Naama Levy, Doron Steinbricher, IAIR Horn, Omer Shem Tov and Noa Argamani. At the end of the meeting Donald Trump He gave Hamas the ultimatum by launching a double warning: the garments must leave Gaza and the group must immediately release the Israeli hostages (or deliver the bodies of those who died), otherwise “it will be hell”. Trump did not use minor terms: “For Hamas leadership – he wrote on the social network – Now it’s time to leave Gaza, as long as you still have a chance. Also, I say to the people of Gaza: A wonderful future awaits you, but not if you keep hostages. If you do, you’re dead. Make an intelligent decision. Release hostages now or there will be hell to be paid later ». Then Trump continued: “Shalom Hamas It means hello and goodbye. You can choose. Release all the hostages now, not later, and immediately return all the bodies of those you have assassinated, or for you it is over. Only sick and twisted people retain bodies, and you are sick and twisted. I am sending to Israel everything he needs to finish the job, no member of Hamas will be safe if you don’t do as I say. I just met your former hostages whose lives have destroyed. This is the last warning ».
And while we write the Tikva Forum For the families of the hostages he praised the ultimatum of the President of the United States Donald Trump in Hamas; «We ask the prime minister Netanyahu To adopt Trump’s statements and to establish a very close deadline so that Hamas releases all the hostages in a single group on a single bus. The games are over. The hostages have to return immediately, they don’t have time, “they said. The truce between Israel and Hamas, which entered into force last January, appears increasingly fragile. Israel has decided to block humanitarian aid directed to Gaza, reacting to Hamas’ refusal to accept an Israeli proposal to extend the ceasefire without definitive conditions on the end of the conflict or on the complete retreat of Israeli troops. The situation feeds new tensions and puts the overall seal of the agreement at risk.
