Israel’s hostages to return within 72 hours ‘if Hamas accepts’

Deal calls for ‘immediate end’ to Gaza War but Hamas’ response remains unclear By All Israel NewsMonday, September 29, 2025U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the State Dining Room at the White House on Sept. 29, 2025, in Washington, D.C. President Trump welcomed Netanyahu for his fourth visit to the White House, where the two leaders met to discuss the latest U.S. backed plans to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas. | Alex Wong/Getty ImagesTaking the podium alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, U.S. President Donald Trump presented the outline of a plan to end the Gaza War.Hailing “a big, big day, a beautiful day, potentially one of the biggest days ever in civilization,” Trump said there was a chance to achieve “everlasting peace.” Shortly before the press conference, Washington released the 20-point plan, which calls for the immediate end of the war, the release of all Israeli hostages within three days, and a gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops as a new international body assumes governance and demilitarizes Gaza.Netanyahu announced that he “supports” Trump’s plan, which he said is a “critical step toward ending the war in Gaza” as well as peace in the Middle East.In a key point for the Israeli public, especially his right-wing supporters, Netanyahu stressed that the 21-point plan “achieves our war aims,” namely, envisioning the return of all hostages within three days and outlining a process to dismantle Hamas’ military and governmental capabilities.The plan will ensure that Gaza “will never pose a threat to Israel again,” Netanyahu said, noting it was also “consistent” with five principles for ending the war, which the Israeli government proposed in August.Another crucial point for the acceptance of the deal, which the Israeli government must authorize as it involves releasing convicted terrorists in exchange for hostages, is ensuring Israel’s future freedom of action.Netanyahu noted that security responsibility will remain in Israel’s hands, with the IDF maintaining control over a security perimeter along the entire border, including the Philadelphi Corridor.“We’ll remain in the security perimeter for the foreseeable future,” the prime minister said.If Hamas leaders agree to the proposal, Netanyahu continued, the first step will be a “modest” Israeli withdrawal, before the release of all hostages.In the next phase, the international body, which Trump said would be called the “Peace Board,” will take over governance of the Gaza Strip. If it succeeds, “we will have ended the war,” Netanyahu said.The entire plan allegedly hinges on the approval of Hamas. If the terrorist group rejects the plan, or “supposedly accepts but then does “everything to counter it,” Netanyahu vowed that Israel would finish the job by itself. “It will be done. We prefer the easy way, but it has to be done. … We didn’t fight this fight … to have Hamas stay in Gaza and have Hamas threaten us again and again.”The prime minister also stressed that there would be no role “whatsoever in Gaza” for the Palestinian Authority without “fundamental, enduring transformation,” which he said must include ending payments to terrorists, revising school textbooks, halting media incitement, and stopping legal warfare in international forums, among other measures.Trump’s plan provides a “practical and realistic plan forward” for Gaza in the coming years, as the enclave will be ruled by those “committed to peace with Israel,” Netanyahu added.Opening first with a somewhat lengthy statement, President Trump thanked Netanyahu, “for getting in there and doing a job. We worked well together, as we have with many other countries, both of us … which is the only way this whole situation gets solved.”However, Trump also noted he and Netanyahu had a “long, strong talk” and said the prime minister “understands, it’s time to end it.”The U.S. leader also said that the peace plan could go “much beyond Gaza. The whole deal. Everything. Getting solved. It’s called peace in the Middle East.”He noted that “everyone” was now on board with the plan, expressing optimism that the Hamas terror group would agree under pressure from Arab and Muslim countries.However, Trump did not specify how Hamas would be compelled to accept the proposal if it chose to reject it.Point 17 of the plan states that if Hamas “delays or rejects this proposal, the above, including the scaled-up aid operation, will proceed in the terror-free areas handed over from the IDF” to the new governing body.According to The Jerusalem Post, Qatari officials assured Trump and Arab states that they are “capable of persuading Hamas to agree to a deal that includes demilitarization.”During their meeting, Netanyahu apologized for Israel’s strike in Qatar’s capital, Doha, which targeted Hamas leaders meeting there, at the behest of Trump.In a phone call with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Al Thani, Netanyahu “expressed his deep regret that Israel’s missile strike against Hamas targets in Qatar unintentionally killed a Qatari serviceman” and “further expressed regret that, in targeting Hamas leadership during hostage negotiations, Israel violated Qatari sovereignty.”The White House added that Netanyahu also “affirmed that Israel will not conduct such an attack again in the future.”Qatar, in turn, “welcomed these assurances, emphasizing Qatar’s readiness to continue contributing meaningfully to regional security and stability,” which Netanyahu affirmed as well.The Prime Minister’s Office released quotes from the call. “Mr. Prime Minister, I want you to know that Israel regrets that one of your citizens was killed in our strike. I want to assure you that Israel was targeting Hamas, not Qataris,” Netanyahu told Al Thani.“I also want to assure you that Israel has no plan to violate your sovereignty again in the future, and I have made that commitment to the president. I know your leadership has grievances against Israel and Israel has grievances against Qatar, from support for the Muslim Brotherhood to how Israel is portrayed on Al Jazeera to support for anti-Israel sentiment on college campuses,” Netanyahu added.According to the statement, Trump praised both leaders “for their willingness to take steps toward greater cooperation in the interest of peace and security for all.”Israel’s Channel 12 News reported that officials also discussed the possibility of Israel paying compensation to the guard’s family.“It was a full apology. Netanyahu also pledged not to strike again in Qatar,” an informed source told i24 News.Qatar later announced that it had reassumed its mediating role following the phone call.The apology was met with furious reactions from across Israel’s political spectrum. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich condemned Netanyahu’s “appeasement” of Qatar, comparing it to then-UK Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s 1938 Munich Agreement with Nazi Germany, signed almost exactly 87 years ago.Netanyahu’s “groveling apology to a state that supports and funds terror is a disgrace,” Smotrich wrote on X. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir declared that the strike on the “masterminds of the October 7 massacre, in the enemy state of Qatar, was an important, just, and profoundly moral strike.”Meanwhile, the chairman of the far-left Israeli “Democrats” Party, Yair Golan, also slammed Netanyahu: “What a humiliation. In order to defeat Hamas, we need to replace both Bibi and Qatar.”ALL ISRAEL NEWS is based in Jerusalem and is a trusted source of news, analysis and information from Israel to our Christian friends around the world.