HAMAS brushed off US President Donald Trump’s latest threats today and reiterated that it will only free the remaining Israeli hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas accused Mr Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to back out of the ceasefire agreement they reached in January.

The agreement calls for negotiations over a second phase in which the hostages would be released in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a permanent ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua said the “best path to free the remaining Israeli hostages” is through negotiations on that phase, which were supposed to begin in early February. Only limited preparatory talks have been held so far.

On Wednesday evening, Mr Trump issued what he said was a “last warning” to Hamas after meeting with eight former hostages. 

The White House meanwhile confirmed that it had held unprecedented direct talks with the militant group, which Israel and Western countries view as a terrorist organisation.

“Release all of the hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is over for you,” Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Only sick and twisted people keep bodies, and you are sick and twisted!”

Both Israel and Hamas have a longstanding practice of holding onto the remains of their adversaries in order to trade them in hostage-prisoner deals.

Hamas is believed to still have 24 living hostages taken in the October 7 2023 terrorist attack on Israel, which sparked the Israeli government’s latest genocidal attack on Gaza.

It is also holding the bodies of 34 others who were either killed in the initial attack or died in captivity, as well as the remains of a soldier killed in the 2014 war.

Hamas released 25 Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight more in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in the first 42-day phase of the ceasefire, which ended on Saturday.

Israel supports what it says is a new US plan for the second phase in which Hamas would release half the remaining hostages immediately and the rest when a permanent ceasefire is negotiated.

Hamas has rejected the proposal and says it is sticking with the agreement signed in January.

Israel has cut off the delivery of food, fuel, medicine and other supplies to Gaza’s roughly two million Palestinians, seemingly a war crime, in an attempt to force Hamas into accepting the new arrangement.

It has threatened “additional consequences” if Hamas does not resume the release of hostages.

It’s unclear if the US-Hamas talks made any progress. The Trump administration has pledged full support for Israel’s main war goals of returning all the hostages and eradicating Hamas, which may be incompatible.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the October 7 attack and took a total of 251 people hostage.

Most have been released in ceasefire agreements or other arrangements. Israeli forces have rescued eight living hostages and recovered the bodies of dozens more.

Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Israel says it has killed more than17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.

The offensive destroyed vast areas in Gaza and displaced most of its population.

Hundreds of thousands of people are living in tents, schools-turned-shelters or war-damaged buildings, and the population relies on international aid.