Egypt working to convince Hamas to accept Trump plan, says foreign minister

By John Irish

PARIS (Reuters) -Egypt's foreign minister said on Thursday that Cairo was working with Qatar and Turkey to convince Hamas to accept U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to end a nearly two-year-old war in Gaza, and warned the conflict would escalate if the militant group refused. 

Speaking at the French Institute of International Relations in Paris, Badr Abdelatty said it was clear that Hamas had to disarm and that Israel should not be given an excuse to carry on with its offensive in Gaza. 

"Let's not give any excuse for one party to use Hamas as a pretext for this mad daily killings of civilians. What's happening is far beyond the seventh of October," he said, referring to the Islamist group's 2023 attack on Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 people taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's offensive has killed over 66,000 people in Gaza, Palestinian health authorities say.

"It is beyond revenge. This is ethnic cleansing and genocide in motion. So enough is enough," Abdelatty said.

The White House unveiled earlier this week a 20-point document that called for an immediate ceasefire, an exchange of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, a staged Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, Hamas disarmament and a transitional government led by an international body.

On Tuesday, Trump gave Hamas three to four days to agree to the plan.

Egypt is a key mediator in efforts to end the Gaza war and Abdelatty said Cairo was coordinating with Qatar and Turkey to convince Hamas to respond positively to the plan, but he remained very cautious.

"If Hamas refuse, you know, then it would be very difficult. And of course, we will have more escalation. So that's why we are exerting our intensive efforts in order to make this plan applicable and to get the approval of Hamas,” he said.   

Abdelatty said while he was broadly supportive of Trump's proposal for Gaza, more talks were needed on it. 

"There are a lot of holes that need to be filled, we need more discussions on how to implement it, especially on two important issues - governance and security arrangements," he said. "We are supportive of the Trump plan and the vision to end war and need to move forward." 

When asked whether he feared the Trump plan could lead to forced displacement of Palestinians, he said Egypt would not accept that.

"Displacement will not happen, it will not happen because displacement means the end of the Palestinian cause," he said. "We will not allow this to happen under any circumstances."

(Reporting by John Irish;Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Nia Williams)