Trump praises Hamas leaders… They are very good negotiators… Very strong… Very smart and they have a lot of things that if they exploit them
US President Donald Trump described Hamas leaders as very good, very strong, and very smart negotiators after reaching an agreement with Israel for a prisoner exchange and a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
This came during a press conference held by Trump on Friday evening at the White House.
On Friday afternoon, the first phase of the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel went into effect at 12:00 PM Jerusalem time (09:00 GMT), after the Israeli government approved the agreement at dawn that same day.
In response to a reporter’s question about what guarantees he had given Hamas to convince it that Israel would not resume bombing once its captives were returned, Trump said, “I spoke very strongly… The world is strong there, and they (Hamas) are very strong, smart people and good negotiators”.
He added: “They (Hamas) have many things, and if they exploit them, they will be very successful”.
Trump said that Hamas leaders “knew the retaliation would be massive and unbearable, and there would be total destruction, and they didn’t want that, and nobody wants that at this point”.
The US President stressed that Hamas wants to move forward with the agreement.
He stressed that he believes the agreement will hold “because both sides are tired of fighting,” as he put it.
Trump said that Gaza’s reconstruction would be carried out with the help of wealthy countries in the region, without mentioning them.
In this context, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said on Friday that Israel had thwarted the release of a large number of imprisoned leaders of the Palestinian national movement, but the three forces chose to proceed with the implementation of the agreement in order to stop the war of extermination against the Palestinian people.
On Thursday, Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had reached an agreement on the first phase of his ceasefire and prisoner exchange plan, following four days of indirect negotiations between the two sides in Sharm el Sheikh, with the participation of Türkiye, Egypt, and Qatar, and under US supervision.
Under the agreement, Israel is scheduled to release 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences, in addition to approximately 1,700 others arrested by Israel from the Gaza Strip after October 7, 2023.
