U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday (July 25) said Palestinian militant group Hamas did not want to make a deal on a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza.

The comments come as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was now considering "alternative" options to achieve its goals of bringing its hostages home from Gaza and ending the rule of Hamas in the territory. Trump said he believed Hamas leaders would now be "hunted down."

Trump made the comments to reporters at the White House one day after his Middle East peace envoy, Steve Witkoff, said the Trump administration had decided to bring its negotiating team home for consultations following Hamas' latest proposal. Witkoff said overnight that Hamas was to blame for the impasse, and Netanyahu said Witkoff had got it right.

The remarks appeared to leave little to no room, at least in the short term, to resume negotiations to pause the fighting, at a time when international concern is mounting over worsening hunger in war-shattered Gaza.

French President Emmanuel Macron, responding to the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, announced overnight that Paris would become the first major Western power to recognize an independent Palestinian state.

Israel and the United States criticized Macron's decision to recognize Palestinian independence. Trump said Macron's comments, "didn't carry any weight."

Western countries have been committed for decades to an eventual independent Palestinian state but have long said it should arise out of a negotiated peace process.

Israel and the United States withdrew their delegations on Thursday from the ceasefire talks in Qatar, hours after Hamas submitted its response to a truce proposal.

Sources initially said on Thursday that the Israeli withdrawal was only for consultations and did not necessarily mean the talks had reached a crisis. But Netanyahu's remarks suggested Israel's position had hardened overnight.

Senior Hamas official Basem Naim said on Facebook that the talks had been constructive, and criticized Witkoff's remarks as aimed at exerting pressure on Israel's behalf.

The proposed ceasefire would suspend fighting for 60 days, allow more aid into Gaza, and free some of the 50 remaining hostages held by militants in return for Palestinian prisoners jailed in Israel.

It has been held up by disagreement over how far Israel should withdraw its troops and the future beyond the 60 days if no permanent agreement is reached.

International aid organizations say mass hunger has now arrived among Gaza's 2.2 million people, with stocks running out after Israel cut off all supplies to the territory in March, then reopened it in May but with new restrictions.

The Israeli military said on Friday it had agreed to let countries airdrop aid into Gaza. Hamas dismissed this as a stunt.

Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas-led fighters stormed Israeli towns near the border, killing some 1,200 people and capturing 251 hostages on October 7, 2023. Since then, Israeli forces have killed nearly 60,000 people in Gaza, health officials there say, and reduced much of the enclave to ruins.

Western countries have been committed for decades to an eventual independent Palestinian state but have long said it should arise out of a negotiated peace process.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (JULY 25, 2025)(U.S. NETWORK POOL - No use USA)

1. U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP WALKING TOWARD WAITING JOURNALISTS ON THE SOUTH LAWN AHEAD OF TRIP TO SCOTLAND

2. WHITE FLASH

3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP SAYING:

“Gaza, they pulled out of Gaza. They pulled out in terms of negotiating. It was too bad. Hamas, Hamas didn't really want to make a deal. I think they want to die and it's very, very bad. And it got it got to be to a point where you're going to have to finish the job. They really, they, they asked for things. Don't forget, we got a lot of hostages out. So now we're down to the final hostages and they know what happens after you get the final hostages. And basically, because of that, they really didn't want to make a deal. I saw that. So they pulled out and they're going to have to fight and they're going to have to clean it up. You're going to have to get rid of it.”

4. WHITE FLASH

5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP SAYING:

JOURNALIST ASKING (OFF-CAMERA): “What are the alternative methods for bringing hostages home from Gaza?”

TRUMP: “Well, we got a lot of them out. And it's, I’ve always said those last ten or 20 are going to be the toughest because Hamas knows what happens when they don't have any bargaining chip. And they really broke a deal. They broke a deal. And you're going to have to do what you have to do right now. It's a terrible thing. And I always knew that. I said, when you get down to the last ones, they're not going to be able to make a deal.”

6. WHITE FLASH

7. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP SAYING:

JOURNALIST (OFF-CAMERA): “Have you given off on a Gaza cease fire?”

TRUMP: “Well, the Gaza situation - and I said this was going to happen - when you get down to your last ten or 20, we got a lot of hostages out. We took them out in numbers that nobody believed, a lot of them. And I said, when you get down to ten or 20, I don't think Hamas is going to make a deal because that means they have no protection. And basically that's what happened. Hamas didn't want to make a deal… I think I think what's going to happen is they're going to be hunted down.”

8. WHITE FLASH

9. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP SAYING:

JOURNALIST ASKING (OFF-CAMERA): "Is it counterproductive to France, for France to say that they would recognize the Palestinian state? Macron said that yesterday.”

10. JOURNALIST: “Look, he's a different kind of a guy. He's he's okay. He's a team player, pretty much. But here's the good news. What he says doesn't matter. It's not going to change things… Well, he made a statement. France. Macron. His statement doesn’t carry any weight. He's a very good guy. I like him. But that statement doesn't carry weight.”

11. WHITE FLASH

12. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP SAYING:

JOURNALIST (OFF-CAMERA): “Did you talk to Netanyahu about aid drops? Sorry. Go ahead. Mr. President, did you speak to Netanyahu about allowing aid drops in Gaza from Arab countries?”

TRUMP: “I speak to him, but I can't tell you what I spoke to him about. But it was sort of disappointing. Although I told you, I mean, I told you, I told you, when you get down to those last 20 hostages, you get down to that last ten or 20, it's going to be very hard for Hamas to make a deal because they lose their shield, they lose their cover. We got a lot of them out, a lot of them. We took a lot of bodies out too. You know, so many of the parents said, ‘Please get my son's body back,’ and we were able to do that. We got a lot of people out, live and people that are not alive, but it was very important to the parents to get their son back, even though they knew their son was dead.”

13. WHITE FLASH

14. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP SAYING:

“People don't know this - and we didn't certainly get any acknowledgment or a thank you - but we contributed $60 million to food and supplies and everything else. We hope the money gets there because, you know, that money gets taken. The food gets taken. We're going to do more. But we we gave a lot of money. We gave a majority of the money, and the sad part is that no other country other than us gives anything.”