US President Donald Trump made clear on Tuesday that the United States would not allow Hamas to play a role in governing the Gaza Strip after the war.
“We're not going to let Hamas do that, and we're going to see what happens with Gaza,” Trump said in response to a question from a reporter on the issue.
“We've made a lot of progress in the Middle East. Tremendous. That date, that very special date, October 7th, should have never happened. It would have never happened if I were president,” he added.
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump announced that he had spoken with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a range of issues and said that the two leaders are in alignment on all of those issues.
"I’ve just spoken to Prime Minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu, relative to numerous subjects including Trade, Iran, etc. The call went very well—We are on the same side of every issue," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Netanyahu met with Trump in Washington two weeks ago. During that meeting, Trump was asked about the efforts to secure a hostage deal with Hamas.
"I want to see the end of the war. Right now, we have a problem with the hostages, we're trying to get the hostages out. We got quite a few out, but it's a long process. It shouldn't be that long, but we have a big problem," he said.
Earlier this month, Trump commented on the situation in Gaza, saying he would like to get as many hostages back as possible.
“I've met with, as you know, a lot of the hostages. It's a terrible situation. But if you notice, hostages are being released now, and that's happened only since I got involved. So we have hostages being released, quite a few, actually. I'd like to get as many hostages as we can,” he said at the time.
On Gaza, Trump said, “Gaza's a very, very important thing. It's been under siege for many, many years. It's a shame. A lot of people die in Gaza. A lot of bad things happen in Gaza. We'll see what we can do about it.”
Talks between Israel and Hamas on a hostage deal hit a stalemate after Hamas announced that it would not respond to Israel’s latest counter-proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, instead reaffirming its commitment to the terms set forth by international mediators.
On Tuesday, the BBC reported that Qatar and Egypt have proposed a new deal to end the war in Gaza and free the hostages.
According to the report, the mediators are proposing a five-to-seven-year halt to hostilities, the release of all Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian Arab prisoners held in Israeli jails, a formal end to the war, and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
A Palestinian Arab official told the BBC that Hamas has indicated that it is prepared to concede governance of Gaza to "any Palestinian entity agreed upon at the national and regional level". He noted this could be the Judea and Samaria-based Palestinian Authority (PA) or a new administrative body.
The official called the current mediation effort "serious" and said the terror organization had shown "unprecedented flexibility".