US President Donald Trump on Monday denied that he recently told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop being so “f*cking negative” and “take the win” after Hamas accepted parts of Washington’s proposal for ending the Gaza war, while saying that it would have to hold talks regarding other portions of the plan.
“No, it’s not true. He’s been very positive on the deal,” Trump said of Netanyahu.
Trump at times has avoided criticizing Netanyahu in public, even as reports have mounted about his private frustration with the Israeli premier, including during a tense phone call last week in which the Axios news site reported the US president responded angrily when Netanyahu said Hamas’s ambivalent response was “nothing to celebrate.”
Asked whether he has any red lines for Hamas in the fresh round of negotiations that kicked off Monday in Egypt, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he does.
“If certain things aren’t met, we’re not going to do it,” he said.
“But I think we’re doing very well. Hamas has been agreeing to things that are very important,” Trump revealed, without elaborating.
The American leader added that he was “pretty sure” there’s going to be a ceasefire and hostage release agreement, saying Hamas had been “fine” as of late.
“I think we’re going to have a deal… They’ve been trying to have a deal with Gaza literally for centuries,” Trump said.
He avoided giving a timeline for when a deal will be announced after a reporter asked him if hostages will be released Tuesday to coincide with the two-year anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 onslaught that sparked the ongoing war.
An Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel earlier Monday that it will take several days, possibly longer, before a deal will be reached.
Asked whether he was in contact with hostage families about his proposal, Trump said he was and that the relatives of captives have been elated. “They’re so happy about it. One said, ‘I can’t breathe.’”
“The people of Israel want this to happen,” he continued, referencing the weekly protests in Israel attended by tens of thousands calling for a hostage deal and an end to the war, regularly pushing messages largely against those of Netanyahu’s government.
As for Hamas, Trump said, the terror group has been “fine.”
“I hope it’s going to continue that way. I think it will,” he said in a rare moment where he avoided criticizing Hamas. Trump embraced the Palestinian terrorist organization’s statement last week that accepted parts of his proposal, while asserting that additional talks were needed regarding other parts pertaining to the post-war management of Gaza.
He reiterated that his agreement goes beyond ending the war in the Gaza Strip, extending to broader regional peace. Trump noted the support his proposal has received from the Arab and Muslim world.
“I spoke with President Erdogan of Turkey. He’s fantastic. He’s been pushing very hard [for a Gaza deal]… and Hamas has a lot of respect for him. They have a lot of respect for Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia,” Trump said, adding that he also spoke with the king of Jordan.
Turkey and Qatar have indeed hosted Hamas leaders at the request or acquiescence of the US and Israel, while the UAE and Saudi Arabia have outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is an offshoot, so it was not what clear what Trump was referring to.
Trump is being represented at the talks in the Sinai resort town of Sharm el Sheikh by his special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, both of whom a US official told Channel 12 news on Friday will will not leave Egypt without an agreement between Israel and Hamas.
The unnamed senior US official said Washington wants to reach an agreement on its proposal to end the war in Gaza this week, though the White House declined to do so publicly when pressed by reporters on Monday for a timeline on how long the talks in Egypt will last.
“It’s important that we get this done quickly so that we can get some momentum, get the hostages out, and then move to the next part of this, which is ensuring that we can create a lasting, durable peace in Gaza and ensure that Gaza is no longer a place that threatens the security of Israel or the United States,” said press secretary Karoline Leavitt, apparently splitting Trump’s Gaza proposal into two — with the first part being the release of the hostages and the second part being the post-war management of Gaza.
She noted that Hamas already, on Friday, “put out a very clear statement in the president’s view that they accept the president’s framework, and that’s why those technical talks are underway,” while stressing “all sides of this conflict [already] agree that this war needs to end and agree to the 20-point framework that President Trump proposed.”
“The administration is working very hard to move the ball forward as quickly as we can. The president wants to see a ceasefire. He wants to see the hostages released,” Leavitt said.
“The technical teams are discussing that as we speak to ensure that the environment is perfect to release the hostages.”
“They’re going over the list of both the Israeli hostages and also the political prisoners who will be released,” she added, in what appeared to be the first time that a Trump official has referred to Palestinian security prisoners as such. However, it seemed more likely a slip of the tongue, rather than a new policy decision.
Claiming that the Palestinian population is “radicalized,” a reporter asked Leavitt to identify the Palestinians that the US wants to serve on the transitional government of Palestinian technocrats that will administer Gaza after the war.
“We’re not quite there yet,” Leavitt responded, explaining that Trump believes peace is possible, which is why he presented his plan for ending the war last week.
“What you need to have peace in a region like Gaza that has been war-torn for far too long, [is] security guarantees and good governance, so those will be two of the main priorities that this administration is focused on,” she added.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.