The Devil in the Details of Trump’s "Final Proposal" for Gaza Ceasefire
A Hamas official accused Trump of aiding an Israeli “deception operation,” but the movement says it wants to bridge the gaps and make a deal.
We have a commitment to ensuring that our journalism is not locked behind a paywall. But the only way we can sustain this is through the voluntary support of our community of readers. If you are a free subscriber and you support our work, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription or gifting one to a friend or family member. You can also make a 501(c)(3) tax-deductible donation to support our work. If you do not have the means to support our work financially, you can do your part by sharing our work on social media and by forwarding this email to your network of contacts.
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump touted the new U.S.-promoted Gaza “ceasefire” framework as the “final proposal,” but while it contains some substantive changes to the previous terms crafted by the U.S. and Israel, the plan would still allow Israel to resume its genocidal war against the Gaza Strip after an initial 60-day truce. “Trump is a crucial part of Israel's deception operation,” a Hamas official told Drop Site News.
The official characterized the proposal, which was also obtained by Drop Site, as containing mostly “rhetorical changes,” though he acknowledged that some of the amended language describing Trump’s desire to end the war was clearly aimed at convincing Hamas to support the agreement.
“The United States and President Trump are committed to work to guarantee the continuation of the negotiations with goodwill until they reach a final agreement,” the draft says, according to the Arabic language version given to Hamas. It adds that Trump will personally announce the deal.
The Hamas official said the “new” draft was largely a repackaging of terms that the U.S. and Israel tried to strong arm Hamas into accepting in late May. That deal would have allowed some Israeli forces to remain entrenched in Gaza, offered no clear guarantees for a permanent end to the war, and allowed Israel to effectively maintain control of food and aid distribution in Gaza.
Among the apparent concessions to Hamas in the document, one involves the timing of the release of Israeli captives held in Gaza. Israel had wanted ten living captives released within a week of a ceasefire taking effect, while the new proposal would see eight released on the first day and the remaining two on day 50. Hamas has expressed concern that Israel would resume the war after retrieving its captives.
According to another section of the potential agreement, once Hamas agrees to a ceasefire, then deliveries of food, medicine, and other aid will commence immediately and will be distributed through “agreed channels,” including the United Nations and the Red Crescent. It states that this would be done “in accordance with an agreement to be reached regarding aid for the civilian population.” A Hamas official said the phrasing would continue to allow Israel to treat humanitarian aid as “negotiable.” It makes no mention of the U.S.-Israeli “aid” scheme run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
On TruthSocial Wednesday, Trump wrote, “Israel has agreed to the necessary conditions to finalize the 60 Day CEASEFIRE, during which time we will work with all parties to end the War,” adding, “I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better—IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE.”
In an official statement on Wednesday, Hamas struck a diplomatic tone. “The mediator brothers are exerting intensive efforts to bridge the gap between the parties, reach a framework agreement, and begin a serious round of negotiations,” Hamas said. “We are acting with utmost responsibility and conducting national consultations to discuss the proposals we have received from the mediators, in order to reach an agreement that guarantees an end to the aggression, achieves withdrawal, and urgently provides relief to our people in the Gaza Strip.”
A delegation from Hamas is meeting with regional mediators in Cairo to discuss the plan. There are reports that Israel may soon send a delegation to Egypt or Qatar for talks as well. “There are some positive signs,” said the Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Tuesday. In past negotiations, Hamas has reviewed Israeli and U.S. drafts and then offered its own amendments and revisions. Once language is accepted by both parties, the agreed framework forms the basis for proximity talks—indirect negotiations via mediators—on implementing a ceasefire.
Over the past two days, there have been extensive reports in Hebrew and Arabic media purporting to reveal some of the terms of the new proposal. Some of these accounts have contradicted each other on the precise terms of the Trump-endorsed plan. Hamas only received the document Wednesday evening. “They are studying it, so no decision, no consultation, nothing has been done,” said a source close to the Palestinian negotiators. He said the media leaks are “all part of the psychological pressure, not only in Israeli, Hebrew, and American media, but even Arab media. It’s all orchestrated. [Hamas] might, of course, agree to [the deal] at the end but they only now started the [internal] discussions.”
Hamas officials have come under increased pressure from Palestinians in Gaza, including members of their own families and tribes, to make a deal. All of Hamas’s representatives outside of Gaza have lost family members during the genocide. Several Hamas representatives have told Drop Site in recent weeks that they feel a heavy burden to find a path to an agreement that does not amount to a surrender of the Palestinian liberation cause, which is why they have sought to draw red lines around the issues of full Israeli withdrawal and a permanent ceasefire.
The Hamas official who spoke to Drop Site expressed concern that the new draft framework does not include explicit commitments by the U.S. that would definitively end the war, a term Hamas has repeatedly said was a red line in negotiations. Instead, he said, it largely repeats the assertions from the previous draft that Trump would guarantee Israel does not resume its attacks on Gaza only for 60 days and pledges good faith efforts by the U.S. and regional mediators to ensure that a ceasefire holds as talks continue toward ending the war. “No guarantee to end the war,” the Hamas official said.
For weeks, sources involved with the negotiations have told Drop Site that Qatari and Egyptian mediators have relayed to Hamas verbal assurances that Trump wants the war brought to an end and will make sure Israel does not resume its military assault on Gaza. But the U.S. has rejected Hamas’s requests that these commitments be put into writing, ideally as part of the final text of an agreement. The language in the draft falls short of the terms Hamas said were necessary for a deal.
“On Day 1, negotiations will begin under the auspices of the mediators-guarantors on the necessary arrangements for a permanent ceasefire,” the proposal states. Among the issues to be negotiated are: the release of the remaining captives, “the redeployment and withdrawal of Israeli forces and long-term security arrangements in the Gaza Strip,” and “arrangements related to ‘the day after’ in the Gaza Strip.” This presumably would include deciding post-war governance. “The President is serious about the parties' commitment to the ceasefire agreement and insists that negotiations during the temporary ceasefire, if successfully concluded by agreement between the parties, will lead to a permanent solution to the conflict,” the document states.
The proposal states that negotiations for a permanent ceasefire should be concluded during the 60-day truce, but, if necessary, “the temporary ceasefire may be extended.” It adds that the U.S., Egypt and Qatar “will ensure that serious negotiations continue for an additional period,” if necessary. Palestinian negotiators believe this language allows too much leeway for Israel to resume the military assault on Gaza should it decide it no longer wants a ceasefire and instead to continue its war of annihilation and conquest.
Still, the Hamas official said, the movement’s negotiators are reviewing the language and seeking further clarification from the regional mediators before offering an official response. In past negotiations, mediators have proposed slight modifications to phrases in an effort to bridge gaps between Israel and Hamas. Such changes were crucial to sealing the January ceasefire deal. Hamas officials are currently debating what, if any, modifications they will request in order to sign an agreement.
The source close to the Palestinian negotiators said there is a strong possibility Hamas will respond positively to the proposal, while recognizing that accepting the deal as-is would be a “calculated risk.” If Israel resumes the war without a long-term ceasefire in place, Hamas would still hold ten living Israeli captives, though its bargaining power would be significantly eroded.
Israel has made clear it does not want to be bound to long-term commitments barring it from resuming attacks against Gaza, but there is no doubt that the U.S. could force the issue if Trump wanted it.
Israel has a long track record of flagrantly violating ceasefires, a reality Hamas officials have told Drop Site they understand. Even before the January deal was signed, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made clear he intended to violate the deal after its first phase, which is precisely what happened. He claimed he had received “side” commitments from both Trump and former president Joe Biden authorizing him to do so if Israel deemed it necessary.
Citing a "member of the political echelon”—a phrase used almost exclusively to signal leaks by Netanyahu—Israel’s Channel 14 reported Wednesday that the current ceasefire deal would include a secret side letter from Trump that would permit Israel to "renew the fire if our demands with regards to the disarmament of Hamas and the exile of its leaders are not met.”
Netanyahu is scheduled to fly to the U.S. for meetings with Trump and other U.S. officials early next week. His top emissary on the ceasefire talks, Ron Dermer, was in Washington D.C. this week for discussions with U.S. officials on the terms for a new proposal. Following those meetings, Trump made his announcement. While Israeli officials have told journalists that they agreed with the outline, they emphasized that final terms are yet to be negotiated.
Netanyahu struck a belligerent tone in remarks Wednesday, declaring that the war will not end until Hamas is eradicated. “There will be no Hamas. There will be no Hamastan, we are not going back to that,” he said in his first remarks following Trump’s social media post. "We'll not end the war before we eliminate Hamas. That's something Trump is saying as well—to stop the war on our own terms—meaning when there is no Hamas, there is victory, and there is no threat to the State of Israel. Will Hamas agree to this? I'm skeptical.”
Referencing Trump’s proposal for the U.S. to seize control of Gaza, which Netanyahu has frequently invoked to promote his own genocidal threats to conquer all of Gaza and remove Palestinians, the Israeli leader declared, “Trump hasn't [retracted his support for] migration and those things."
Zvi Sukkot, a far-right member of the Israeli Knesset from the Religious Zionism party, said the new proposal and Trump’s recent comments were a sign that he fully supported Israel’s agenda in Gaza. "From the day he entered the White House, we constantly hear how Trump is going to clash with Israel's interests and is going to force us here and there,” he said Wednesday. “As of now, not only have all these interpretations not happened, the exact opposite has happened.”
On Tuesday evening, during a cabinet meeting, Netanyahu pledged that any deal Israel signs would include the wiping out of Hamas and Palestinian armed resistance in Gaza. "[Hamas] will remain there? Over my dead body. It won't happen. [We] have to kill anyone who is holding a weapon."
While Netanyahu amplifies his threats to continue the war against Gaza, the chief of staff of the Israeli military, Eyal Zamir, told the Israeli security cabinet Sunday that, from a military perspective, the major goals of the war against Gaza have been achieved, adding that an expansion of the fighting would necessitate new objectives. Such statements from the Israeli military could help to feed a “victory” narrative by Netanyahu should a ceasefire agreement be signed.
Amos Harel, a prominent Israeli military reporter, wrote in Ha’aretz, “As has happened before, Netanyahu may be seeking to put on a show for the Americans. He'll demonstrate a willingness to seal a deal even as he signals to Hamas that his demands remain unyielding, with the goal of laying the blame for failure on the enemy.” Harel added, “Netanyahu is apparently debating among his options. He knows a long-term cease-fire would endanger his alliance with the two far-right parties that are keeping his governing coalition alive.”
Asked about Trump’s long term vision for Gaza, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce declined to elaborate on Wednesday. “If there’s a ceasefire, obviously, it’s elements that everyone has agreed to, which would also then lead to what President Trump’s vision is at the end. It’s—obviously, that will be peace,” she told reporters at the State Department. “It’s not going to be the world’s longest ceasefire. It’s going to be peace that’s achieved fundamentally by the changes on the ground, which we have already seen implemented over the last couple of weeks.”
The Mirage of Withdrawal
The renewed activity surrounding ceasefire talks comes as Israel has escalated its genocidal assault on Gaza even further in the past few weeks, with relentless aerial bombardment, widening displacement orders, and aid massacres on a daily basis. The confirmed Palestinian death toll by the Gaza health ministry since the start of the war crossed 57,000 on Wednesday, a figure widely acknowledged to be a vast undercount. The UN estimates that 85% of Gaza’s territory is now either under forced displacement orders or designated as military zones.
Israel violated the original ceasefire deal that went into effect on January 19 on an almost daily basis, killing over 150 Palestinians in Gaza during that time. It also refused to permit the agreed-upon number of tents, equipment, or aid into the enclave. On March 2, Israel unilaterally abandoned the agreement after the first 42-day phase by imposing a full-spectrum blockade. On March 18, it resumed its genocidal war.
Since then, Hamas has maintained that it is willing to negotiate over a wide range of terms, but has made clear it will not release any more Israeli captives unless there is a deal with a clear pathway to a permanent end to the war and a withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from Gaza.
The Hamas official told Drop Site that the new proposal would effectively keep Israel in full control of how much food, medicine, and other life essentials would be allowed to enter the Gaza Strip. It is unclear if the U.S.-Israeli “aid” program run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation would continue its operations. At least 650 starving Palestinians have been killed in aid massacres since the GHF began operations on May 27.
Israeli forces would not be required to fully withdraw from Gaza under the terms of the draft and the language in the proposal on this is vague. The new draft envisions some Israeli redeployments—first from within the north of Gaza and later in the south “based on maps to be agreed upon.”
Last week, Egyptian mediators raised the issue of Israel’s occupation of the Philadelphi corridor that runs along Gaza’s border with Egypt. Before Israel’s invasion of Rafah and its takeover of the Philadelphi corridor in May 2024, the Rafah border crossing was the only gateway Palestinians in Gaza had to the world beyond Israeli control. Netanyahu has insisted for months that he aims to maintain full control of the area. Hamas officials told Egyptian mediators that, in the context of a long-term ceasefire deal guaranteed by the U.S, they were open to alternative solutions on the timeline for Israeli withdrawal from the Philadelphi corridor. But Hamas has not altered its stance that an eventual full withdrawal of Israeli forces must be included in any deal.
In a visit with Israeli forces in Rafah Wednesday, Defense Minister Israel Katz said, “The maneuver is aimed at achieving two goals—returning the hostages and ensuring Hamas no longer exists here. We will not let go of this objective. To kill the enemy, bring the hostages home and win—that is our mission. There’s no chance we’ll give it up or compromise on it,” he added. “Hamas has not changed. It wants to continue what it did and to destroy [Israel].”
The last time ceasefire drafts were circulated was in May. Both Israeli and Hamas proposals included the release of ten living Israeli captives and the bodies of 18 deceased. An unspecified number of Palestinian captives held by Israel would be freed in exchange and the bodies of deceased Palestinians returned. There are currently estimated to be 50 Israelis remaining in captivity in Gaza, twenty of whom are believed to be alive. Israel holds an estimated 10,100 Palestinians in prisons and detention camps, along with hundreds of Palestinian bodies. These figures do not include more than 1,000 Palestinians from Gaza snatched by Israel since October 7, 2023 for the explicit purpose of using them in prisoner exchanges with Hamas.
In its proposals in May, Israel wanted ten captives held in Gaza released in the early days of an agreement. Hamas insisted they be spread out over the course of two months to prevent Israel from resuming the genocide after retrieving its captives. The current draft proposes that eight living Israelis be released in the first week of a deal and the remaining two at the end and the bodies of 18 deceased captives returned over several stages. An unspecified number of Palestinian captives would be freed and bodies returned with each release of Israelis, though the document does not offer any formula for how the number of Palestinians set to be released will be determined.
According to the Hamas official, mediators have told the movement that Hamas must relinquish governance of Gaza as part of the deal, a term Hamas has long said it would agree to. In its own ceasefire proposal in May, Hamas itself included a commitment to hand over power "to an independent technical committee of Palestinians to administer all affairs in Gaza and to coordinate reconstruction." Each time Hamas has proposed this, Israel removed this term from its own revised drafts.
The proposal says that Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff will “travel to the region to finalize the agreement” and “chair the negotiations.”
Drop Site News Middle East Research Fellow Jawa Ahmad contributed to this report.
History reveals the USA’s involvement in instigating numerous conflicts, engaging in actual wars, and orchestrating assassinations of heads of state leading to significant regime changes. These actions have resulted in the deaths of millions of innocent civilians, positioning the USA as a major threat to global peace.
The profound impact of these actions makes the USofA an untrustworthy partner in any peace negotiations!
How can the Unites States broker ANY kind of peace settlement / ceasefire, whatever, that is couched inside a threat, to wit: “I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better—IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE.” ?