Abbas tells ‘sons of dogs’ Hamas to free hostages, remove Israel’s ‘excuses’ for Gaza war

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday called terror group Hamas “sons of dogs,” and told the terror group to release hostages it is holding in order to eliminate what he said was Israel’s pretext to continue its war in Gaza.

“The first priority is to stop the war of extermination in Gaza. It must be stopped – hundreds are being killed every day,” Abbas said in a speech. “Why don’t you hand over the American hostages?”

Addressing Hamas as “sons of dogs,” the PA president told the terror group to “release those you’re holding and put an end to this story. Shut down their [Israel’s] excuses. End it.”

He further called on Hamas to cede control of Gaza to the PA, give up its arms, and become a political party.

“Hamas must hand over Gaza responsibilities and hand over its arms to the responsibility to Palestinian Authority and transform into a political party,” Abbas said.

Hamas has refused calls in recent months by Israel and the United States to lay down its arms.

Abbas made the remarks during a speech at the opening of the PLO Central Council meeting.

It was unclear whether he was referring to the release of all 59 hostages or only those with US citizenship.

US-Israeli citizen Edan Alexander is the only American citizen believed to still be alive in captivity, although Hamas is also holding the bodies of four other US nationals.

Abbas added that the council rejects what he said were Israel’s attempts to uproot Gaza’s residents from their homes, calling it a “new Nakba,” referring to the mass displacement of some hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Israel’s 1948 War of Independence.

“We reject this. It’s an inseparable part of our land — what’s happening in Gaza is also happening in Jenin, everywhere,” he said, referring to a West Bank city that has been a focus of counter-terror raids by the IDF and PA forces.

Abbas gave his speech during a meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah at which he is expected to name a successor, part of efforts to answer international doubts over the Palestinian Authority’s viability at a critical moment for the region.

The PA leader has previously criticized the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which he said gave Israel a pretext to destroy Gaza. Hamas led over 5,000 terrorists to invade southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 hostages.

Two weeks ago, the PA presidency similarly urged Hamas in a statement to “stop giving the occupation any excuses to continue its genocide.”

Abbas and the PA have often accused Hamas of undermining Palestinian unity, while Hamas has criticized the PA for collaborating with Israel and cracking down on dissent in the West Bank.

Hamas did not immediately comment on Abbas’s new remarks.

Ties between Abbas’s Fatah party and Hamas have been tense, with deep political and ideological divisions for nearly two decades. In 2007, Hamas seized Gaza from PA control in a bloody coup, and the two have remained at loggerheads ever since despite repeated efforts at reconciliation.

Abbas’s remarks came as Arab mediators are working on a proposal to end the Israel-Hamas war that would include a five- to seven-year truce and the release of all remaining hostages, officials said.

An overnight Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City killed 23 people, according to local Hamas-controlled health authorities. The figures could not be verified and do not differentiate between civilians and terror operatives.

The Civil Defense, first responders who operate under the Hamas-run government, said it recovered another four bodies from strikes on two homes in the same area. It said there are more people trapped under the rubble.

The IDF and Shin Bet said the early morning airstrike targeted Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives embedded within the former Yaffa School in Gaza City.

According to the military, Hamas and Islamic Jihad were using the school as a command center to plan and carry out attacks on Israel and troops.

The IDF said it took steps to mitigate civilian harm in the strike, including the use of a “precision munition, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence.”

“The terror organizations systematically violate international law while taking over civilian infrastructure, and while brutally exploiting the civilian population as a human shield for its terror attacks,” the military added.

احتراق خيام وفصول وبداخلها نازحين جراء قصف الاحتلال مدرسة يافا في حي التفاح شرق مدينة غزة pic.twitter.com/JqzdxGtGfD

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) April 23, 2025

Egypt and Qatar are still developing the truce proposal, which would include the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the entire Strip and the release of Palestinian prisoners, according to an Egyptian official and a Hamas official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

A ceasefire began in January that saw small batches of hostages released in exchange for increased humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza and the release of hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners held by Israel.

But the truce collapsed in March and Israel resumed its military campaign, vowing to continue the war until all the hostages are returned and Hamas is either destroyed or disarmed and sent into exile. It has sealed off the territory from all imports, including food, and says it will hold parts of it indefinitely.

Hamas has said it will only release the dozens of hostages it still holds in return for Palestinian prisoners, a complete Israeli withdrawal, and a lasting ceasefire, as called for in the now-defunct agreement reached in January. A Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo late Tuesday to discuss the evolving proposal.

A long-term truce

The Egyptian official said the proposed truce, with international guarantees, would last between five and seven years, and that a committee of politically independent technocrats would govern Gaza — a measure Hamas has accepted.

The Hamas official said the terror group is open to a long-term truce that includes the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces and international guarantees, naming Russia, China, Turkey, or the United Nations Security Council as possible guarantors.

Turkey, a regional heavyweight that has had tense ties with Israel in recent years, recently joined the negotiations, the Egyptian official said.

There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials. But Israel has ruled out any arrangement that would allow Hamas to retain its influence in Gaza and rearm, two goals the group is already working on. The Trump administration, which has also been involved in the ceasefire talks, has said it fully supports Israel’s position.

Israel and the US have pressed Hamas to accept a temporary truce in which it would immediately release several hostages in return for vague promises of talks on a more permanent ceasefire. Hamas has rejected those proposals and says it won’t disarm as long as Israel occupies Palestinian territory.

The Hamas official said the group does not trust either Netanyahu or the US, accusing them of shattering the existing ceasefire agreement, which had facilitated the release of over 30 hostages.

The Egyptian official said mediators had the impression that US President Donald Trump wants a deal before he visits the region next month. Trump will travel to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates from May 13 to May 16.

Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 59 hostages, including 58 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023. They include the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the IDF.

Hamas released 30 hostages — 20 Israeli civilians, five soldiers, and five Thai nationals — and the bodies of eight slain Israeli captives during a ceasefire between January and March. The terror group freed 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were released before that in the early weeks of the war. In exchange, Israel has freed some 2,000 jailed Palestinian terrorists, security prisoners, and Gazan terror suspects detained during the war.

Eight hostages have been rescued from captivity by troops alive, and the bodies of 41 have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors, and the body of a soldier who was killed in 2014.

The body of another soldier killed in 2014, Lt. Hadar Goldin, is still being held by Hamas, and is counted among the 59 hostages.

France, Germany, and Britain condemn Israeli blockade

Mwanwhile, France, Germany, and Britain issued a statement calling on Israel to let aid into the Strip again.

“The Israeli decision to block aid from entering Gaza is intolerable,” the three European powers said in a joint statement. They also condemned recent remarks by Defense Minister Israel Katz, who said the blockade was a pressure tactic and that troops would remain in parts of Gaza indefinitely.

“Humanitarian aid must never be used as a political tool, and Palestinian territory must not be reduced nor subjected to any demographic change. Israel is bound under international law to allow the unhindered passage of humanitarian aid,” the European statement said.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 50,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.

Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.

Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 411. The toll includes a police officer killed in a hostage rescue mission and two Defense Ministry civilian contractors.