Palestinians in Gaza have spent almost two years longing for an end to the war that has destroyed their communities and killed tens of thousands of their neighbors. Many say their best hope yet is the latest cease-fire plan proposed by the United States — if only Hamas would accept it.
“Hamas must say yes to this offer — we have been through hell already,” said Mahmoud Bolbol, 43, a construction worker who has remained in Gaza City with his six children in the battered shell of their home throughout the war.
President Trump unveiled the proposal while meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel at the White House on Monday. Mr. Trump said that if Hamas did not accept its terms, then he would give Israel the green light to “finish the job” of destroying the armed group.
Hamas has not yet given its response to the proposal, but interviews with Palestinians in Gaza on Wednesday suggested widespread public support for the plan. It calls for an immediate end to a war that has brought immense civilian suffering.
For the past two days, Mr. Bolbol said, his neighbors have talked about almost nothing but the cease-fire proposal. If Hamas rejects it, he said, his family would finally leave Gaza City and head for what he hoped would be the relative safety of the enclave’s south.
“Hamas needs to understand: Enough is enough,” Mr. Bolbol said. Most Gazans are not members of the group, he added, “so why drag us into this?”
The plan requires Hamas to release all of the remaining hostages it seized during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel within 72 hours of the proposal going into effect. That includes an estimated 20 abductees believed to still be alive and the bodies of about 25 others.
In exchange, Israel would release about 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences in Israel, an additional 1,700 Gazans detained during the war and the remains of 15 dead Gazan prisoners for each Israeli hostage whose body is returned.
But the proposal contains several elements that Hamas has said are unacceptable.
Those include a ban on the group exercising future power in Gaza, a requirement that it disarm and the establishment of a transitional government overseen by foreign officials, including Mr. Trump and Tony Blair, the former British prime minister.
The proposal unveiled on Monday sent a rare flash of hope through Gaza, people said in interviews. But others are less hopeful.
Some people said the terms of the proposal made them doubt that Hamas would agree. Others said their doubts grew from something more basic and bitter: They simply did not believe that Hamas would put the interests of the Palestinian people above the interests of the organization.
“We are dying for nothing, and no one cares about us,” said Nasayem Muqat, 30, who fled Israel’s expanding military campaign in Gaza City for the territory’s south on Monday with her young daughter, Selene. “Hamas needs to think more of us and what we have been through.”
Abdelhalim Awad, 57, who manages a bakery in Deir al Balah, in central Gaza, said he would accept almost “any price” to end the war. But he said he did not believe that Hamas could say the same thing.
“They don’t care about what people think or public opinion,” Mr. Awad said. “If they cared about that, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
In Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, Mahmoud Abu Mattar, 35, said he hoped the United States could somehow force Hamas to accept the deal and then make both the armed group and Israel abide by all its terms.
“My wish is that Trump forces it as a reality on both sides, directly, without giving a choice,” said Mr. Abu Mattar, who once sold electrical appliances in Gaza City.
He said that fighting had forced him to move around northern Gaza 10 times with his wife and three children until last week, when they fled to the south for the first time.
He said he was disgusted with the negotiators in faraway conference rooms who seem to control his family’s fate.
“The ones negotiating on my behalf are sitting in air-conditioned rooms,” he said. “They are not the ones living in sand, walking half an hour to fetch water or searching for a bag of flour and getting killed.”
Reporting was contributed by Abu Bakr Bashir, Rawan Sheikh Ahmad, Aaron Boxerman, Iyad Abuheweila and Ameera Harouda.
Liam Stack is a Times reporter who covers the culture and politics of the New York City region.
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