Trump wades into Gaza diplomacy as Israeli military moves on Gaza City

Palestinians gather to view the wreckage after Israeli warplanes destroyed an 11-story high-rise building in Gaza City following a warning on Monday, Sept. 8, 2025. President Donald Trump has given Hamas what sounds like an ultimatum, demanding that the militant group agree to a new truce proposal or face full-scale Israeli assault on Gaza City. (Saher Alghorra/The New York Times)

By ISABEL KERSHNER and ADAM RASGON

President Donald Trump’s latest foray into Middle East peacemaking presented Hamas with what sounded like an ultimatum. He effectively pressed the Palestinian militant group to either accept a new U.S. ceasefire proposal or face the full wrath of Israel’s military advance into Gaza City.

“The Israelis have accepted my Terms,” Trump posted on social media Sunday, hinting at a new U.S. proposal to exchange all the remaining hostages for Palestinian prisoners and end the nearly 2-year-old war in the Gaza Strip. “It is time for Hamas to accept as well.

“I have warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting,” Trump said. “This is my last warning, there will not be another one!”

It was not immediately clear whether Trump’s brinkmanship could stop the invasion of Gaza City, one of the main urban centers of the Palestinian territory. Alternatively, if Hamas balks, it could allow Israel and the United States to argue that they had tried everything and the group was bringing disaster upon itself.

The intervention added to the uncertainties surrounding Israel’s impending ground assault on the heart of Gaza City in the north of the territory. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian residents, many of them already displaced at least once by the war, are now torn between fleeing to the overcrowded south or taking the risk of staying put.

The U.S. proposal consists of about half a dozen broad principles for a truce, according to two people familiar with the discussions. It appears to leave what have been some of the most difficult sticking points to be hammered out in further talks.

The new proposal, the two people said, envisions a comprehensive deal that would see all the remaining hostages in Gaza released together in the early days of a ceasefire in exchange for freeing a large number of Palestinian prisoners, including some serving life sentences. Israel believes that about 20 hostages are still alive.

This outline differs from the previous U.S.-backed proposal, which was based on a phased approach. It called for about half the hostages to be released during a 60-day ceasefire, during which negotiations would be held for ending the war.

The message conveyed to Hamas over the latest proposal from the administration was that releasing the hostages would lead to an end of the war, according to the two people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues.

One of the sticking points in past talks has been Israel’s insistence that Hamas must disarm for the war to end, a condition that the group has rejected so far. It was not immediately clear whether or how the new proposal would resolve that issue.

Speaking to reporters later Sunday at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Trump said: “I think we’re going to have a deal on Gaza very soon.” Trump has made similar predictions in the past that never came to pass.

On Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz issued an ominous warning of his own to Hamas, which led the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that set off the war in Gaza.

“Today a tremendous hurricane will hit the skies of Gaza City,” he wrote on social media. “Release the hostages and put down your weapons — or Gaza will be ruined and you will be destroyed.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a video address in Hebrew on Monday, said that he had pledged that the Israeli military would destroy buildings in Gaza — referring to them as “terror towers” — and that it had in recent days destroyed about 50 such structures. He warned residents of Gaza City to “leave now,” saying the destruction had only just begun.

Hamas responded to Netanyahu in a statement Monday, saying the buildings he referred to were “residential” and accusing Netanyahu of forcibly displacing Palestinians in violation of international law.

Trump did not elaborate on the terms of any new proposal, and the Israelis did not publicly confirm their acceptance. Netanyahu’s office sent a message to a number of reporters Sunday night saying Israel was “giving very serious consideration to President Trump’s proposal,” adding, “Hamas will likely persist in its intransigence.”

Hamas issued a statement saying it had “received, through mediators, some ideas from the American side to reach a ceasefire agreement” and affirmed its readiness to enter immediately into talks.

At the same time, Israel was pressing ahead with the assault on Gaza City, which officials have described as one of the last Hamas strongholds in Gaza.

After operating in some of Gaza City’s outlying neighborhoods in recent weeks, Israel was intensifying airstrikes on targets in the core of the city during the past few days.

The military has brought down several high-rise buildings that it says were used by Hamas, without providing evidence. It was a display of force apparently intended to pressure residents to flee and to prepare for a ground invasion.

Netanyahu said Sunday that about 100,000 residents had already left the city, heeding Israel’s warnings to head south. But hundreds of thousands remain in Gaza City and its environs, and the military’s evacuation notices have mostly been issued without any clear deadlines.

The Israeli government approved the operation a month ago. The military said it would take time to call up tens of thousands of reserve soldiers, train forces, prepare equipment and move the population out of Gaza City. It added that it intended to move cautiously in the complex urban environment, particularly given the belief that some hostages may be held there.

Israelis are divided over this new phase of the war. Many are concerned that the advance could endanger the lives of any hostages who might be held in Gaza City. And splits over the government’s war strategy have opened up between top political and security officials.

The military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, had favored going for an immediate, even partial Gaza truce deal to release at least some of the hostages rather than proceeding with the offensive. He is concerned that a conquest of Gaza City will lead to the military becoming solely responsible for the roughly 2 million Palestinians throughout the Gaza Strip, according to officials.

For some Israelis who want to see Hamas gone as soon as possible, progress in the war has been too hesitant.