Hamas brushes off Trump's threat and says it will only free hostages in return for a lasting truce

CAIRO — Hamas on Thursday brushed off President Donald Trump’s latest threat and reiterated that it will only free the remaining Israeli hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

The militant group accused Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to back out of the ceasefire agreement they reached in January. The agreement calls for negotiations over a second phase in which the hostages would be released in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a permanent ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua said the ‘’best path to free the remaining Israeli hostages'' is through negotiations on that phase, which were supposed to begin in early February. Only limited preparatory talks have been held so far.

On Wednesday, Trump issued what he said was a ‘’last warning'' to Hamas after meeting with eight former hostages. The White House meanwhile confirmed it had held unprecedented direct talks with the militant group, which Israel and Western countries view as a terrorist organization.

‘‘Release all of the Hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is OVER for you,‘’ Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. ‘’Only sick and twisted people keep bodies, and you are sick and twisted!‘’

Both Israel and Hamas have a longstanding practice of holding onto the remains of their adversaries in order to trade them in hostage-prisoner deals.

U.S. plan for the second phase

Hamas is believed to still have 24 living hostages taken in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war, including Israeli-American Edan Alexander. It is also holding the bodies of 34 others who were either killed in the initial attack or in captivity, as well as the remains of a soldier killed in the 2014 war.

Hamas released 25 Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight more in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in the first 42-day phase of the ceasefire, which ended on Saturday.

Israel supports what it says is a new U.S. plan for the second phase in which Hamas would release half the remaining hostages immediately and the rest when a permanent ceasefire is negotiated. Hamas has rejected the proposal and says it is sticking with the agreement signed in January.

Israel has cut off the delivery of food, fuel, medicine and other supplies to Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians in an attempt to pressure Hamas into accepting the new arrangement. It has threatened ‘’additional consequences'' if Hamas does not resume the release of hostages.

It is unclear if the U.S.-Hamas talks made any progress. The Trump administration has pledged full support for Israel’s main war goals of returning all the hostages and eradicating Hamas, which may be incompatible.

Direct talks between the U.S. and Hamas could make it difficult for Israel to resume the war, according to Mkhaimar Abusada, a political science professor at Gaza’s Al-Azhar University who is currently in Egypt. ‘’The current U.S. administration is trying to avoid a return to war in Gaza in all possible ways," he said.

Gaza reconstruction plan

Egypt said Thursday it will host an international conference to raise money for a Gaza reconstruction plan proposed this week at the Arab Summit in Cairo. A date was not announced.

The conference, in cooperation with the United Nations, would secure financial pledges for the $53 billion five-year plan, Egyptian foreign ministry spokesperson Tamim Khallaf said.

Egyptian and Arab officials also will tour key capitals, including Washington, to promote further details, Khallaf said, adding that Egypt believes it’s a ‘’workable and realistic plan'' in the interest of all partners.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack and took a total of 251 people hostage. Most have been released in ceasefire agreements or other arrangements. Israeli forces have rescued eight living hostages and recovered the bodies of dozens more.

Israel’s military offensive has killed over 48,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were militants. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.

The offensive destroyed vast areas in Gaza and displaced most of its population. Hundreds of thousands of people are living in tents, schools-turned-shelters or war-damaged buildings, and the population relies on international aid.

UN chief says aid cuts are a ‘perfect storm’

The United Nation’s humanitarian chief issued a dire warning Thursday about how U.S. funding cuts to foreign aid have issued a ‘’body blow to our work to save lives.‘’

Tom Fletcher briefed the U.N. Security Council on the various challenges humanitarian workers face on the ground in Yemen and other areas around the world.

‘‘It is of course for individual countries to decide how to spend their money. But it is the pace at which so much vital work has been shut down that adds to the perfect storm that we face,‘’ Fletcher said, adding that he has asked partners to provide lists of areas where they have to cut back.

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