Trump says Hamas 'didn't want' Gaza deal as talks break down
US President Donald Trump accused Hamas on Friday of not wanting to reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza as Israel said it would explore 'alternative options' to rescue hostages after negotiations collapsed.
FILE: US President Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room at the White House on 21 January 2025, in Washington, DC. Picture: AFP
JERUSALEM - US President Donald Trump accused Hamas on Friday of not wanting to reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza as Israel said it would explore "alternative options" to rescue hostages after negotiations collapsed.
An Israeli official meanwhile told AFP air drops of aid would resume soon over the Gaza Strip, where aid groups warned of surging numbers of malnourished children as international concern mounted over the deepening humanitarian crisis after more than 21 months of war.
After US and Israeli negotiators quit indirect talks with Hamas in Qatar, Trump said that "it was was too bad. Hamas didn't really want to make a deal. I think they want to die."
The US president argued that the Palestinian militant group, whose 7 October 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war, was not ready to hand over the remaining captives held in Gaza because "they know what happens after you get the final hostages".
His special envoy Steve Witkoff accused Hamas of not "acting in good faith" in the negotiations that ended on Thursday.
Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim in turn accused Witkoff of distorting the reality of the talks and walking back on agreements that had been reached between the parties.
Witkoff was looking to "serve the Israeli position", Naim told AFP.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that "together with our US allies, we are now considering alternative options to bring our hostages home, end Hamas's terror rule, and secure lasting peace."
Witkoff similarly said Washington would "consider alternative options" on Gaza, without elaborating on what they could entail.
Netanyahu's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called to reinstate a complete aid blockade, occupy the entirety of Gaza, "encourage" its people to leave and re-establish Israeli settlements there.
Mediators Qatar and Egypt said in a joint statement that the talks could still resume, describing their suspension as "normal in the context of these complex negotiations" and vowing to carry on with "intensive efforts" to secure an elusive breakthrough.
'CARNAGE AND FAMINE'
More than 100 aid and human rights groups warned this week that "mass starvation" was spreading in Gaza.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said that a quarter of the young children and pregnant or breastfeeding mothers it had screened at its clinics last week were malnourished, a day after the United Nations said one in five children in Gaza City were suffering from malnutrition.
The leaders of Britain, France and Germany, in a joint statement Friday, said the "humanitarian catastrophe" in Gaza "must end now".
"We call on the Israeli government to immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid" and facilitate the "urgent" work of UN agencies and humanitarian groups, the European leaders said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday slammed the international community for turning a blind eye to the suffering of starving Palestinians, calling it a "moral crisis that challenges the global conscience".
Guterres said while he had repeatedly condemned Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel, "nothing can justify the explosion of death and destruction since."
Israel has rejected accusations it is responsible for the deepening crisis in Gaza, which the World Health Organization has called "man-made".
An Israeli official said Friday that air drops of aid would resume "in the upcoming days" and "will be managed by the UAE and Jordan".
Humanitarian organisations have repeatedly said that parachuting aid parcels, which began in early 2024, was ineffective and cannot replace land access.
Numerous Palestinians had been killed by falling crates, in stampedes or drowned trying to retrieve packages from the sea, before the operations ended after several months.
'IT'S A TRAP'
Israel placed the Gaza Strip under an aid blockade in March, which it only partially eased two months later while sidelining the longstanding UN-led distribution system.
Aid groups have refused to work with the Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, accusing it of aiding Israeli military goals.
The GHF system, in which Gazans have to join huge queues to reach one of just four sites, has often proved deadly, with the UN saying that more than 750 Palestinian aid-seekers have been killed by Israeli forces near GHF centres since late May.
In Khan Yunis, in Gaza's south, Fatima al-Shawaf mourned a relative she said was killed while seeking aid.
"I would rather we die of hunger than have anyone go to this trap that is killing our youth. It is a trap," she told AFP.
The World Food Programme said almost a third of people in Gaza are "not eating for days", with tens of thousands "in urgent need of treatment".
Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed 59,676 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Hamas's October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Of the 251 hostages taken during the attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.