The two-year war between Israel and Hamas is at a precarious inflection point after a roller-coaster sequence of events over the past week. On Monday, President Donald Trump unveiled a 20-point plan for ending the war in Gaza, presenting it as a nonnegotiable ultimatum to Hamas. On Friday, Hamas said it would consider discussing the first 10 points, including releasing the hostages in their custody, and effectively sidestepped the rest of the points, including turning over its weapons. Trump enthusiastically accepted this lukewarm response—declaring on Truth Social that “I believe they are ready for a lasting PEACE”—and dragged Benjamin Netanyahu along for the ride.
“Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly,” Trump further demanded in that post, which went up at 5:14 p.m.
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