President Donald Trump indicated on Friday that a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas would be unlikely, and suggested that Hamas was losing its ability to negotiate.
As Hamas holds a declining number of hostages, President Trump said, it doesn’t “have any bargaining chips” it can bring to negotiations.
“I think they want to die, and it’s very, very bad,” Trump said, before he left for a trip to Scotland on Friday. “It got to be to a point where you’re going to have to finish the job.”
“I think what’s going to happen is they’re going to be hunted down.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed the sentiment on Friday, saying Israel was weighing “alternative options” to the ceasefire negotiations.
"Hamas is the obstacle to a hostage release deal,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
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Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s special envoy, left Qatar on Thursday without securing a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Witkoff said Hamas demonstrated a “lack of desire to reach a ceasefire in Gaza.”
“While the mediators have made a great effort, Hamas does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith,” he said.
The breakdown comes at a critical time in Gaza. More than 100 humanitarian aid agencies have warned that the population is on the brink of starvation.