US President Donald Trump demanded that Israel immediately halt the bombing of Gaza early Saturday, stating that he believes the Palestinian militant group Hamas is ready for peace following their recent statement.

Hamas had earlier agreed to certain terms of President Trump’s plan to end the Gaza conflict, including the release of hostages.

However, the group avoided addressing the most difficult issues, such as disarmament, and requested further negotiations.

Following this development, Trump promptly posted Hamas’s response on his ‘Truth Social’ account.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office later announced that Israel was preparing for the immediate implementation of the first stage of Trump’s Gaza plan, aimed at securing the release of Israeli hostages.

 Immediately afterward, Israeli media reported that the country’s political leadership had instructed the military to reduce offensive operations in Gaza.

​In its statement, Hamas praised President Trump’s demands for an end to the war, a prisoner exchange, and the immediate delivery of aid. The group declared its “approval of releasing all occupation prisoners, both living and remains—according to the exchange formula contained in President Trump’s proposal,” but added that it was prepared to negotiate the “necessary field conditions.” Crucially, Hamas did not agree to disarm and demilitarize Gaza, which is a core demand of Israel and the US that the group has rejected in the past. A senior Hamas official informed Al Jazeera that the group would not surrender its weapons before the end of the Israeli occupation of Gaza. Furthermore, Hamas stated its readiness to hand over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian body of independent technocrats, based on Palestinian national consensus and supported by Arab and Islamic nations.

​President Trump had given Hamas until Sunday night to accept the peace plan, threatening that if this “last-chance deal” were to fail, Hamas would face a severe calamity unlike anything seen before.

The current proposal, which is backed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, includes a ceasefire, the release of hostages within 72 hours, the disarming of Hamas, and a phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, to be followed by the establishment of an interim authority led by the US under Donald Trump.

​Sources close to the Hamas leadership informed the media this week, while the group was considering the plan, that the Islamic movement seeks amendments to certain clauses, including the one regarding disarmament.

​Pakistan has welcomed Hamas’s response to the Gaza peace plan, labelling it a “welcome step,” and has stressed that this development must lead to an immediate ceasefire.

​Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar stated on X that Hamas’s readiness must now translate into ending the suffering of the Palestinian people, ensuring the release of all hostages, and an unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance.

​Dar explicitly demanded that Israel must immediately stop its attacks. He further reaffirmed Pakistan’s unwavering support for the Palestinian cause, stating that the country remains committed to its principled position that the permanent solution to the conflict is the establishment of a sovereign, viable Palestinian State along the 1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.

​Meanwhile, the Gaza Civil Defence Agency reported intense aerial bombardment and artillery shelling across Gaza City, with Israeli attacks killing at least 11 people. The United Nations (UN) reiterated that no place in Gaza is safe and that the areas designated as safe by Israel in the south have become death traps.

​As the conflict nears the two-year mark and the death toll continues to rise, demonstrators worldwide have staged intense protests over the Israeli interception of the ‘Global Sumud Flotilla’ carrying aid to Gaza. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, over 66,288 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli attacks, with more than half of them women and children. This ongoing operation was launched in response to the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 Israelis.