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PARIS: Egypt’s foreign minister said on Thursday that Cairo was working with Qatar and Turkiye to convince Hamas to accept US President Donald Trump’s plan to end a nearly two-year-old war in Gaza, and warned the conflict would escalate if the militant group refused.
Speaking at the French Institute of International Relations in Paris, Badr Abdelatty said it was clear that Hamas had to disarm and that Israel should not be given an excuse to carry on with its offensive in Gaza.
“Let’s not give any excuse for one party to use Hamas as a pretext for this mad daily killings of civilians. What’s happening is far beyond the seventh of October,” he said, referring to the group’s 2023 attack on Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 people taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 66,000 people in Gaza, Palestinian health authorities say.
“It is beyond revenge. This is ethnic cleansing and genocide in motion. So enough is enough,” Abdelatty said.
The White House unveiled earlier this week a 20-point document that called for an immediate ceasefire, an exchange of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, a staged Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, Hamas disarmament and a transitional government led by an international body.
On Tuesday, Trump gave Hamas three to four days to agree to the plan.
Egypt is a key mediator in efforts to end the Gaza war and Abdelatty said Cairo was coordinating with Qatar and Turkiye to convince Hamas to respond positively to the plan, but he remained very cautious.
“If Hamas refuse, you know, then it would be very difficult. And of course, we will have more escalation. So that’s why we are exerting our intensive efforts in order to make this plan applicable and to get the approval of Hamas,” he said. Abdelatty said while he was broadly supportive of Trump’s proposal for Gaza, more talks were needed on it.
“There are a lot of holes that need to be filled, we need more discussions on how to implement it, especially on two important issues — governance and security arrangements,” he said. “We are supportive of the Trump plan and the vision to end war and need to move forward.”
When asked whether he feared the Trump plan could lead to forced displacement of Palestinians, he said Egypt would not accept that.
“Displacement will not happen, it will not happen because displacement means the end of the Palestinian cause,” he said. “We will not allow this to happen under any circumstances.”

LONDON: The leader of the military wing of Hamas in Gaza has rejected a US peace proposal, the BBC reported on Thursday.

Izz Al-Din Al-Haddad has reportedly indicated that the group will continue to fight as he believes the proposal, backed by Israel, is designed to destroy Hamas.

Reports earlier this week suggested that senior Hamas members in Qatar were open to negotiating aspects of the 20-point plan, which includes the group’s disarmament and surrender of any future role in governing Gaza.

However, its military wing holds greater sway over proceedings given that it holds the 48 hostages remaining in Gaza, only 20 of whom are thought to be alive.

One major stumbling block is the requirement for all hostages to be released within 72 hours of the ceasefire, which would rob Hamas of further leverage.

Senior Hamas figures in Gaza also do not believe that Israel will abide by the deal, regardless of US guarantees, after its efforts to assassinate members of its political leadership in Doha last month. 

After the proposal was announced on Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on X that the deal would allow the Israeli military continued access to parts of Gaza, and that his government would “forcibly resist” the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state, defying the US proposal to create a “credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.”

Hamas has maintained that it will refuse any efforts to disarm until a Palestinian state has been established.

Israel has killed at least 66,225 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023, according to local health authorities.