# Hamas rejects Trump ultimatum and says it will only free hostages in return for lasting truce – as it happened



Palestinians shopping at a market set up among the rubble in Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza during Ramadan. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

## Closing summary

It is approaching 5:45pm in **Gaza City**, **Tel Aviv**, and **Beirut**. This blog will be closing shortly but you can keep you to date with the Guardian’s **Middle East** coverage .

Here are the latest developments from today’s blog:

- **The Hamas militant group on Thursday brushed off US 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**. Hamas accused Trump and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to back out of the ceasefire agreement they reached in January. Hamas spokesperson Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua said that the “best path to free the remaining Israeli hostages” is through negotiations on the second 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, through US special envoy Adam Boehler**. Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Boehler had the authority to talk to anyone “to do what’s in the best interest of the American people”. Leavitt said Israel had been consulted before the US began negotiations. It is unclear if the US-Hamas talks made any progress.
- **France on Thursday saluted an Arab plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip under the future administration of the Palestinian Authority**, adding that the militant group Hamas should be “entirely” excluded from running it, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP). But “the plan must entirely exclude Hamas from governing Gaza, where it must be disarmed and give  serious security guarantees”.
- **Israel’s internal security agency, Shin Bet, has said Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies were among the underlying causes of the 7 October 2023 attack in which Hamas and other militants killed about 1,200 Israelis.** In its report on the 7 October attack, Shin Bet acknowledged its own responsibility, admitting it was aware of warning signs that  was planning an operation, but the agency, also known as the General Security Service (GSS), did not grasp the scale, timing and location of the planned attack.
- **Israel’s military surveillance agency has used a vast collection of intercepted Palestinian communications to build a powerful artificial intelligence tool similar to ChatGPT that it hopes will transform its spying capabilities**, an investigation by the Guardian can reveal. The joint investigation with Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and Hebrew-language outlet Local Call has found Unit 8200 trained the AI model to understand spoken Arabic using large volumes of telephone conversations and text messages, obtained through its extensive surveillance of the occupied territories.
- **The UK on Thursday unfroze the assets of **Syria**’s central bank and 23 other entities including banks and oil companies**, reversing sanctions imposed during **Bashar al Assad**’s presidency, reports Reuters. A notice posted on the UK government website said entities including the **central bank**, the **Commercial Bank of Syria** and the **Agricultural Cooperative Bank** had been delisted and were no longer subject to an asset freeze. **Syrian Petroleum Company**, **Syria Trading Oil Company (Sytrol)** and **Overseas Petroleum Trading** were also among those delisted, according to the news agency.
- **Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that authorities in the **Gaza Strip** report that six people have been killed and seven injured by Israeli fire in the territory in the past 24 hours**.
- **It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.**
- **The Israeli military’s post comes hours after the **White House** confirmed the US had entered direct negotiations with Hamas, potentially bypassing **Israel** to secure the release of US hostages still held by the group.**
- **“‘Shalom Hamas’ means Hello and Goodbye,”** Trump wrote in his social media post on Wednesday, in an apparent reference to the beginning of direct talks with the group.
- **Official Israeli reaction to that development was limited to a single-sentence statement late on Wednesday stating that “Israel has expressed to the US its position regarding direct talks with Hamas”.**
- **Yarahi wrote on Instagram:**
  > You have brought glass to break our stone. Thank you for your constant support, dear ones, and the sincere companionship of the respected lawyers Mustafa Nili and Zahra Minoui. He who is not willing to pay the price of freedom does not deserve freedom. Wishing you freedom.”
- **The news of the medieval-style flogging caused widespread outrage on Iranian social media.**
- **Yarahi’s one-year prison sentence was later converted to electronic ankle monitoring, which ended in December, leading to his release.**
- **However, the return of his 15bn toman bail, paid by a third party, was dependent on his flogging, which was carried out this week.**
- **At the time, Yarahi wrote on X:**
  > I am ready to receive the sentence of 74 lashes, and while I condemn this inhuman torture, I make no request to cancel it.”
- **The news of the flogging caused widespread outrage on Iranian social media.**

## Hamas rejects Trump ultimatum and says it will only free hostages in return for lasting truce – as it happened



Mehdi Yarrahi. Photograph: Mehdi Yarrahi

Yarrahi wrote on Instagram:

> You have brought glass to break our stone. Thank you for your constant support, dear ones, and the sincere companionship of the respected lawyers Mustafa Nili and Zahra Minoui. He who is not willing to pay the price of freedom does not deserve freedom. Wishing you freedom.”

News of the medieval-style flogging caused widespread outrage on Iranian social media.

## Hamas accused Donald Trump of seeking to undermine the shaky pause in hostilities in Gaza with his latest intervention in the region: a new and fierce ultimatum telling the group to release all hostages.

The militant Islamist organisation said Trump’s threats constituted support for attempts by the **Israeli** prime minister, **Benjamin Netanyahu**, to back out of the ceasefire agreement.

> “These threats complicate matters … and encourage  to avoid implementing its terms,” the **Hamas** spokesperson **Hazem Qasim** said in a statement on Thursday.

, Trump told Hamas to “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”.

Fighting in Gaza has been halted  under a truce arranged with **US** support and **Qatari** and **Egyptian** mediators, and Hamas has exchanged 33 Israeli hostages and five **Thais** for about 2,000 **Palestinian** prisoners and detainees.

However, the first phase of the ceasefire ended on Saturday and talks on the second phase have stalled.

The US president’s post came hours after the **White House** confirmed the US had entered direct negotiations with Hamas, potentially bypassing **Israel** to secure the release of US hostages still held by the group.

> “‘Shalom Hamas’ means Hello and Goodbye,” Trump wrote in his social media post on Wednesday, in an apparent reference to the beginning of direct talks with the group.

Official Israeli reaction to that development was limited to a single-sentence statement late on Wednesday stating that “Israel has expressed to the US its position regarding direct talks with Hamas”.

## Hamas says Trump’s threats encourage Israel to back out of Gaza ceasefire – as it happened



Jason Burke

The militant Islamist organisation said Trump’s threats constituted support for attempts by the **Israeli** prime minister, **Benjamin Netanyahu**, to back out of the ceasefire agreement.

> “These threats complicate matters … and encourage  to avoid implementing its terms,” the **Hamas** spokesperson **Hazem Qasim** said in a statement on Thursday.

, Trump told Hamas to “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”.

Fighting in Gaza has been halted  under a truce arranged with **US** support and **Qatari** and **Egyptian** mediators, and Hamas has exchanged 33 Israeli hostages and five **Thais** for about 2,000 **Palestinian** prisoners and detainees.

However, the first phase of the ceasefire ended on Saturday and talks on the second phase have stalled.

The US president’s post came hours after the **White House** confirmed the US had entered direct negotiations with Hamas, potentially bypassing **Israel** to secure the release of US hostages still held by the group.

> “‘Shalom Hamas’ means Hello and Goodbye,” Trump wrote in his social media post on Wednesday, in an apparent reference to the beginning of direct talks with the group.

Official Israeli reaction to that development was limited to a single-sentence statement late on Wednesday stating that “Israel has expressed to the US its position regarding direct talks with Hamas”.

## Hamas rejects Trump ultimatum and says it will only free hostages in return for lasting truce – as it happened



Mehdi Yarrahi. Photograph: Mehdi Yarrahi

Yarrahi wrote on Instagram:

> You have brought glass to break our stone. Thank you for your constant support, dear ones, and the sincere companionship of the respected lawyers Mustafa Nili and Zahra Minoui. He who is not willing to pay the price of freedom does not deserve freedom. Wishing you freedom.”

News of the medieval-style flogging caused widespread outrage on Iranian social media.
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