Trump warns of ‘massive bloodshed’ if peace plan not agreed soon

"I am told that the first phase should be completed this week, and I am asking everyone to MOVE FAST.”

Delegations from both Israel and Hamas met in Cairo on Monday for talks mediated by Egyptian officials but no resolution has yet been announced.

Israel confirmed it had accepted Trump’s “comprehensive” plan for “eternal peace” last week during a joint press conference between the US leader and Prime Minister Netanyahu.

The key points include a withdrawal of the IDF to a “buffer zone” before a permanent pull-out once Gaza is demilitarised, the release of all hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, a new technocratic governance structure overseen by a “Board of Peace” and the complete disarmament and dismantling of Hamas.

For its part, the terror group has accepted the hostage-prisoner exchange, but declined to commit to giving up governmental authority or its military capabilities.

Hamas leadership are understood to be insistent that a complete IDF withdrawal from the Strip and a commitment from Jerusalem not to restart the war in the future be agreed before any demilitarisation.

Commenting on the discussion in Egypt, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said: “We'll know very quickly whether Hamas is serious or not by how these technical talks go in terms of the logistics.”

There is also a reported split within Hamas between its political and military wings over the deal.

BBC News reported last week that Izz al-Din al-Haddad, head of the al-Qassam Brigades, was set against the proposal and had privately vowed to continue the fight against Israel.

But such a rejection raises the prospect of yet more conflict, with Trump saying that, should Hamas say no, Israel would have Washington’s full backing to “finish the job” in Gaza.

Officials in Israel are briefing that, despite Trump’s demand for expediency, an agreement is unlikely to be reached in Egypt before next week.

Elsewhere, Netanyahu has also faced domestic resistance to the deal from some in his coalition government, particularly on the far-right.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called the prospective deal a “grave mistake”, with both him and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatening to pull their respective parties from the administration.

The pair are reportedly demanding a guarantee in the plan that the war can be restarted if Hamas refuses to comply with the disarmament requirements.

It is likely that Netanyahu will find sufficient support among opposition parties to push the deal through the Knesset, with Opposition Leader Yair Lapid publicly backing the plan, but the withdrawals of Smotrich and Ben-Gvir could collapse the government and potentially force fresh elections.