Trump said to tell PM in tense phone call after Hamas responded to Gaza deal: ‘You’re always so f*cking negative. This is a win.’

Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter

US President Donald Trump, right, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participate in a press conference in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC on September 29, 2025. (Jim WATSON / AFP)
US President Donald Trump, right, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participate in a press conference in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC on September 29, 2025. (Jim WATSON / AFP)

US President Donald Trump told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to be “so fucking negative” in a tense phone call on Friday, Axios reports.

The conversation took place shortly after Hamas announced that it had submitted its response, in which it welcomed parts of the US proposal, while hinting at resistance regarding other sections and insisting that additional negotiations were needed to finalize the terms.

According to a US official, Netanyahu told Trump the ambivalent Hamas response was “nothing to celebrate.”

“I don’t know why you’re always so fucking negative,” responded Trump, per the official. “This is a win. Take it.”

Trump expected Hamas to reject the plan, and was pleasantly surprised by the terror group’s response, says Axios.

A US official says it was a somewhat combative conversation and that Trump was irked, but that they finally reached an agreement. “Ultimately, President Trump wants peace, and that’s what matters most. The administration is already working closely with Israel to accomplish that,” says a US official.

An Israeli official tells the outlet that Netanyahu said in private meetings on Friday that he sees Hamas’s response as a rejection of the Trump plan, and that he wanted to fight the idea that Hamas had accepted the proposal.

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