Pope Leo Hopes Hamas Will Accept President Trump's Peace Proposal

JAKARTA - World Catholic Church leader Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday praised the 20-point peace plan by United States President Donald Trump for the conflict in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, expressing his hope that the Hamas militant group will support him.

"There are very interesting elements" in the plan, Pope Leo said.

"I hope Hamas will accept it within a predetermined period of time," Pope Leo hoped.

Hamas was not involved in the negotiations that resulted in the proposal, which called for the removal of weapons from the group, the demands previously rejected by Hamas.

However, Hamas said it would review the plan in good faith and provide a response, according to Qatar, which is one of the mediators of the Gaza peace negotiations.

"Hamas accepted Trump's plan last night and promised to study it responsibly. It is too early for the group to respond," Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari told The Associated Press.

He said a bilateral meeting would be held on Tuesday with the Hamas negotiating team, which is planned to be followed by the Turkish and Egyptian delegations, to review the proposal.

Meanwhile, a senior Hamas official told The Associated Press that the group's leaders would hold internal discussions and negotiations with other Palestinian factions before responding to Trump's proposal.

The official added that Hamas received the proposal from two mediators from the Middle East of Egypt and Qatar and "will start studying it" with other factions.

There is no indication of when Hamas could give his response to the plan. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.