Image Credit: OMAR AL-QATTAA / Contributor / Getty Images 
The US is currently in “very deep negotiations” to end the Israel-Hamas war, President Trump announced on Friday.
During a White House press briefing, Trump reiterated calls for Hamas to release its remaining hostages, saying this would get “nasty” if they didn’t.
“We said let them all out right now. Let them all out, and much better things will happen for them. But if you don’t let them all out, it’s going to be a tough situation. It’s going to be nasty. That’s my opinion. Israel’s choice, but that’s my opinion,” the President said.
Trump noted that there are around 20 hostages who are still alive, and the bodies of 30 remain in the hands of Hamas.
On Friday, Hamas released a video featuring Israeli hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal. In the video, which apparently dated from the end of August, Gilboa-Dalal said he and other hostages are being held in Gaza City and fear they will be killed as Israel moves to take full control of the city.
Trump did not specify what Hamas is asking in return for an end to the conflict.
“They’re asking for some things that are fine,” Trump said.
He added that the initial Hamas attacks on Israel, in which around 1,200 Israelis were killed, would have to be taken into account during the negotiations.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed that Gaza must never be allowed to become a haven for Hamas or other militant groups.
At the beginning of last month, Netanyahu said the Israeli operation to take the remainder of Gaza City would not be the beginning of an indefinite occupation.
He said the plan is for Israel to have “overriding security responsibilities” for the territory, while allowing a “non-Israeli, peaceful civil administration.”
Gaza’s post-Hamas civil authority must be one that “doesn’t educate its children for terror, doesn’t pay terrorists, and doesn’t launch terrorist attacks against Israel,” Netanyahu added. He said these terms would disqualify the Palestinian Authority, which partially governs the West Bank, from becoming Gaza’s civil authority.
In a statement made on Saturday, Hamas representatives said, “The movement affirms its openness to any ideas or proposals that achieve a permanent ceasefire, a comprehensive withdrawal of the occupation forces from the Gaza Strip, unconditional entry of aid, and a real prisoner exchange through serious negotiations via mediators.”
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