Israel demands Hamas accept hostage deal in Gaza or be ‘annihilated’
Israel has threatened Hamas with ‘annihilation’ if the Palestinian militant group refuses to accept a hostage deal as US President Donald Trump announces a ceasefire deal is ‘very close’.
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Israel said Hamas must accept a hostage deal in Gaza or “be annihilated”, as US President Donald Trump announced that a ceasefire agreement was “very close”.
It comes on Friday (Saturday afternoon AEST) amid dire conditions on the ground, with the United Nations warning that Gaza’s entire population was at risk of famine.
Defence Minister Israel Katz said Hamas must agree to a ceasefire proposal presented by US envoy Steve Witkoff or be destroyed, after the Palestinian militant group said the deal failed to satisfy its demands.
“The Hamas murderers will now be forced to choose: accept the terms of the ‘Witkoff Deal’ for the release of the hostages — or be annihilated.”
Israel has repeatedly said that the destruction of Hamas was a key aim of the war.
Negotiations to end nearly 20 months of war in Gaza have so far failed to achieve a breakthrough, with Israel resuming operations in March following a short-lived truce.
In the United States, Trump told reporters “they’re very close to an agreement on Gaza”, adding: “We’ll let you know about it during the day or maybe tomorrow.”
‘CRUSADE’ AGAINST ISRAEL
Israel accused French President Emmanuel Macron of undertaking a “crusade against the Jewish state” on Friday after he called for European countries to harden their stance on Israel if the humanitarian situation in Gaza did not improve.
“There is no humanitarian blockade. That is a blatant lie,” Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement, defending its efforts to allow in aid.
“But instead of applying pressure on the jihadist terrorists, Macron wants to reward them with a Palestinian state. No doubt its national day will be October 7,” it added, alluding to the date of Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war.
Israel last week partially lifted a more than two-month blockade on supplies entering Gaza, which is enduring severe shortages of food and medicines even as truckloads of humanitarian assistance have begun to trickle in.
Mr Macron, meanwhile, has stepped up his statements of support for the Palestinians of late.
On Friday he said European countries should “harden the collective position” against Israel if it did not respond appropriately to the humanitarian situation in Gaza, including keeping open the possibility of sanctions.
“If we abandon Gaza, if we consider there is a free pass for Israel, even if we do condemn the terrorist attacks, we will kill our credibility,” Mr Macron told a top defence forum in Singapore.
He also called the recognition of a Palestinian state, with some conditions, “not only a moral duty, but a political necessity”.
France is co-hosting with Saudi Arabia an international conference at the UN in New York meant to resurrect the idea of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – an outcome the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes.
In its statement Friday, the Israeli foreign ministry said: “Hamas, for its part, has already praised Macron’s statements. Hamas knows why.”
HAMAS BACKTRACKS ON CEASEFIRE
Hamas has changed its mind about outright rejecting a US pitched ceasefire with Israel which involves the release of 10 living hostages and the bodies of a further 18 in exchange for laying down arms for 60 days.
A day after knocking back the offer, Senior Hamas official Basem Naim released a more nuanced statement on their position on Friday.
He said the proposal shows Israel “fundamentally seeks to entrench the occupation and perpetuate policies of killing and starvation, even during what is supposed to be a period of temporary de-escalation,” but said Hamas was nevertheless “currently undertaking a thorough and responsible review of the new proposal.”
ISRAEL EXPANDS WEST BANK SETTLEMENTS
Defence Minister Katz vowed on Friday to build a “Jewish Israeli state” in the West Bank.
Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory are considered illegal under international law and seen as a major obstacle to a lasting peace in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Mr Katz framed the move as a direct rebuke to French president Macron and other world leaders pushing for recognition of a Palestinian state.
The comments come after Israel doubled down on its settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank earlier this week announcing the creation of 22 new settlements in the Palestinian territory, occupied by Israel since 1967.
London said the move was a “deliberate obstacle” to Palestinian statehood while Egypt called it “a provocative and blatant new violation of international law and Palestinian rights”.
The 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, which includes Egypt, also condemned Israel’s decision.
On Thursday, Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff sent the latest ceasefire agreement, which has been signed off by Israel, to Hamas.
“We do believe that it has some significant promise,” US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.
“There is some optimism.”
LATEST ATTACKS ON GAZA AS PEOPLE STARVE
Gaza’s civil defence agency told AFP that at least 45 people had been killed in Israeli attacks on Friday, including seven in a strike targeting a family home in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip.
Palestinians sobbed over the bodies of their loved ones at Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital following the strike, AFPTV footage showed.
“These were civilians and were sleeping at their homes,” said neighbour Mahmud al-Ghaf, describing “children in pieces”.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but said separately that the air force had hit “dozens of targets” across Gaza over the past day.
Food shortages in Gaza persist, with aid only trickling in after the partial lifting by Israel of a blockade that started on March 2.
Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency, called Gaza “the hungriest place on Earth”.
“It’s the only defined area — a country or defined territory within a country – where you have the entire population at risk of famine,” he said.
Later, the UN condemned the “looting of large quantities of medical equipment” and other supplies “intended for malnourished children” from one of its Gaza warehouses by armed individuals.
Aid groups have warned that desperation for food and medicine among Gazans was causing security to deteriorate.
GRETA THUNBERG GOING TO GAZA
Swedish activist Greta Thunberg will travel to Gaza on a humanitarian ship on Sunday to protest Israel’s war on the territory, as Hamas rejected the latest US-backed ceasefire deal.
The 22-year-old had set sail for Gaza earlier this month but the trip was cancelled when the FFC ship she was on suffered damage en route in a suspected Israeli drone strike.
Joining Ms Thunberg and other activists will be outspoken left-wing French-Palestinian politician and member of France’s LFI party Rima Hassan.
Ms Hassan — who has caused controversy in the past with her statements on the Middle East — was refused entry to Israel in February on a visit with a delegation of European parliamentarians.
Ms Hassan took to social media on Friday to announce the protest operation and plead for public support.
“To guarantee our security, and also the success of our mission, we need maximum mobilisation by the public for this initiative,” she posted.
Ms Hassan said the protest operation had “several aims: to condemn the humanitarian blockade and ongoing genocide, the impunity granted to the state of Israel and raise international awareness.”
Aid has begun trickling back into Gaza in recent days but humanitarian groups warn the war-ravaged territory is facing mass starvation.
FOUR DEAD AFTER PALESTINIANS STORM UN FOOD WAREHOUSE
Four people have died as hundreds of hungry and desperate Palestinians rushed into a United Nations food warehouse in southern Gaza.
Two were fatally crushed and two others died of gunshot wounds after the crowd forced its way into the World Food Programme warehouse in Deir al-Balah, tearing off pieces of the building to get inside.
Footage showed crowds breaking into the food hub and taking bags and cartons of food supplies as gunshots rang out.
“Hordes of hungry people broke into WFP’s Al-Ghafari warehouse in Deir Al-Balah, Central Gaza, in search of food supplies that were pre-positioned for distribution,” the World Food Programme said in a statement on X.
“Initial reports indicate two people died and several were injured in the tragic incident,” it said, adding: “WFP is still confirming details.”
Intense criticism has been levelled at the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US-backed group that has bypassed the longstanding UN-led system in the territory.
The UN condemned the US-backed aid system in Gaza after 47 people were injured during a chaotic food distribution on Wednesday when thousands of Palestinians desperate for food rushed into a GHF aid distribution site.
Footage of the moment the aid distribution center in Tel Sultan was overrun by thousands of Gazans. According to Israeli security sources, the IDF did not fire from the air but fired warning shots in the air, adding that the U.S. security company regained control over the site. https://t.co/mDbeaHRgRLpic.twitter.com/vbWS2DeCFv
— Ariel Oseran أريئل أوسيران (@ariel_oseran) May 27, 2025
A Palestinian medical source said at least one had died.
The Israeli military said soldiers did not fire at civilians.
“WFP urgently calls for safe, unimpeded humanitarian access to enable orderly food distributions across Gaza immediately,” its statement said.
– with AFP
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Originally published as Israel demands Hamas accept hostage deal in Gaza or be ‘annihilated’
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