US President Donald Trump said on Monday that Hamas was unlikely to release the hostages without a change in circumstances, but declined fully to endorse Israel’s plan to attack and occupy Gaza City.He maintained that securing the hostages was always going to be “very rough to get them,” stressing that Hamas “are not going to let the hostages out in the current situation,” Trump was quoted as saying by Axios.Trump said it was up to Israel to decide its next steps and determine whether Hamas should remain in Gaza, but added that, in his view, “they can’t stay there.”“I have one thing to say: remember October 7, remember October 7,” he said, referring to Hamas’s October 7 attack, reported Axios. He also appeared to align with the stance that increasing military pressure on Hamas is necessary.The US president called his Sunday conversation with Netanyahu, which covered the Gaza City operation, a “good call.”Netanyahu’s office said that during Sunday’s call, they “discussed Israel’s plans to take control of the remaining Hamas strongholds in Gaza to end the war through the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas.”A senior Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo on Monday for discussions with Egyptian intelligence officials on potentially resuming negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage agreement. The group had left Qatar for Turkey two weeks before the talks broke down, reported Axios.Netanyahu will now only seek a deal with Hamas that secures the release of all remaining hostages. “The prime minister would be willing to hold negotiations [for a deal] under conditions that we set for ending the war, and only if all the hostages were to be returned. Until then, we will not participate whatsoever in negotiations,” an unknown source was quoted as saying by Channel 12.A new military plan by the Israeli security cabinet has been approved for the complete takeover of Gaza City. “We are not going to occupy Gaza, we are going to free Gaza from Hamas,” Netanyahu said through a post on X.
