Gaza City— In a strongly worded statement issued on Saturday, senior Hamas official Dr. Basem Naim called on U.S. President Donald Trump to leverage his international influence to help end the ongoing war in Gaza, urging a halt to what he described as a campaign of “genocide” and the beginning of a credible peace process, reported the Clarion India.
Naim, a member of Hamas’s political bureau in Gaza, praised Trump’s past efforts to de-escalate global conflicts, citing progress in Ukraine, Iran, and South Asia. However, he said those efforts would remain incomplete as long as the Israeli military offensive in Gaza continues.
“We affirm that such a vision, while commendable in principle, cannot be realized as long as the war and genocide in Gaza persist,” Naim stated.
Reiterating Hamas’s longstanding position, Naim said the group is open to negotiations and emphasized the right of Palestinians to live in freedom and dignity within an independent, sovereign state. He claimed Hamas had communicated its willingness to engage constructively with international actors to bring about an immediate ceasefire and initiate a political process toward Palestinian statehood.
“Hamas is a purely Palestinian organization that upholds resistance as a legitimate path toward liberation,” he said, while reiterating that the Palestinian people alone have the right to determine their leadership through free and fair elections.
He also reaffirmed Hamas’s offer to relinquish governing authority in Gaza, saying the group is willing to hand over full administrative control to any nationally agreed-upon Palestinian body, even prior to the end of the war.
The statement described the October 7 attacks as a “direct response” to more than seven decades of occupation and systemic injustice. “History did not begin on October 7,” Naim said, framing the events as part of a broader historical struggle rather than an isolated act of violence.
He accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of obstructing negotiations over the release of Israeli captives by continuing what he termed an aggressive and genocidal military campaign.
“Any talk of negotiations is meaningless while Gaza is being devastated by starvation on one hand and bombardment on the other,” the statement read.
Naim urged the United States to pressure Israel to allow immediate humanitarian aid into Gaza, saying access to food, water, and medicine should be treated as fundamental human rights, not bargaining chips in political negotiations.
He specifically referenced past mediation efforts that led to the release of Israeli soldier Edan Alexander, suggesting that similar understandings could be revived if humanitarian conditions were addressed.
“The US administration, under President Trump, has the capacity to enforce this humanitarian obligation,” he said.
As the war in Gaza continues to escalate, the statement marks a renewed push by Hamas to shift international focus toward diplomatic solutions — and to court Trump’s potential return to global diplomacy.
