US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said on Tuesday that the ball is now in Hamas’ court to accept President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza and release the hostages.
In a post on X, Graham urged Hamas to “choose wisely” when contemplating whether to accept or reject the proposal.
“After yesterday’s announcement of the 20 point plan for peace, which Israel has accepted, I believe the ball is now in Hamas’ court. It is my understanding that President Trump intends this to be a ‘take it or leave it’ proposal for Hamas. I hope that Hamas will choose wisely and quickly,” he wrote.
Turning to Qatar, Graham said he expected them to take action against Hamas should the terrorist organization reject Trump’s plan.
“I appreciate their efforts to broker this proposal, but if Hamas rejects the Trump plan, I would expect Qatar to take swift action to include expelling Hamas leadership from Qatar. Anything less would send a terrible signal,” wrote the Senator.
CBS News reported earlier on Tuesday that Hamas is leaning toward accepting Trump’s proposal to end the war.
According to a source familiar with the negotiations quoted in the report, a formal response could be transferred to the Egyptian and Qatari mediators as early as Wednesday.
Previously, a source close to the terrorist organization said that the plan was “completely biased toward Israel” and adopted “impossible conditions” for Hamas. Another senior Hamas official told the Russian news agency Sputnik that “the attempt at disarmament is impossible. No matter the cost - there are principles that our people in Gaza will not give up.”
Later on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump told reporters that Hamas has three to four days to respond to his peace plan.
"We're gonna do about three to four days. We'll see how it is," Trump said. "All of the Arab countries have signed up, the Muslim countries have signed up, Israel's all signed up. We're just waiting for Hamas."
"Hamas is either gonna be doing it or not, and if it's not, it's going to be a very sad end," he added.