Shehbaz Sharifโs post on X came a day after Hamas agreed to certain elements of Trumpโs plan to end the nearly two-year war and release all remaining hostages.
Pakistan appears to have made a sharp U-turn on US President Donald Trumpโs Gaza peace plan. Initially, Sharif’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said it diverged from what Muslim-majority nations had originally proposed, but Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif later praised it as a step towards ending the bloodshed.
Sharif, in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday, said, โAlhamdolillah, we are closer to a ceasefire than we have been since this genocide was launched on the Palestinian people.โ
Thanking Donald Trump and leaders from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt and Indonesia for their efforts to broker peace, Sharif added, “The statement issued by Hamas creates a window for a ceasefire and ensuring peace that we must not allow to close again. InshaAllah, Pakistan will continue to work with all its partners and brotherly nations to everlasting peace in Palestine.”
Sharifโs post follows Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that controls Gaza, accepting some elements of Trumpโs plan to end the nearly two-year war and return all remaining hostages taken in the October 7, 2023, attack.
Hamas said it was willing to release the hostages and hand over power to other Palestinians, but other aspects of the plan require further consultations among Palestinians. Senior Hamas officials indicated there are still major disagreements that require further negotiation.
Trump earlier this week unveiled a 20-point blueprint aimed at ending the year-long war between Israel and Hamas. The plan calls for the return of all hostages within 72 hours of a ceasefire and outlines a roadmap for a redeveloped โNew Gaza.โ It also proposes deploying international and Arab forces to oversee Israelโs phased withdrawal and reconstruction efforts in the enclave.
Pakistan’s disapproval of Trump’s Gaza deal
However, Pakistanโs stance had shifted on Friday when Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar told lawmakers that Trumpโs version of the peace plan was not the one proposed by the bloc of eight Muslim-majority nations that met the US president on September 22 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
โI have made it clear that these 20 points, which Trump has made public, are not the same as ours. Some changes have been made to the draft we had,โ Dar said. According to him, the joint Muslim proposal had called for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a โpath for a just peace based on the two-state solution.โ Trumpโs plan, by contrast, envisions only a partial pullback of Israeli troops, tied to the release of remaining hostages held by Hamas.
Dar also claimed that Trump had personally assured the Muslim leaders that he would not allow any Israeli annexation of the occupied West Bank, a key demand from hardliners in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuโs coalition.
Darโs fresh statement
However, on Saturday, Dar said โHamas’ response is a welcome step.โ
โThis must now result in an immediate ceasefire, end to Palestinian suffering, ensure hostages release, and allow free flow of humanitarian aid. Israel MUST immediately stop its attacks. We reaffirm Pakistanโs unwavering support for the Palestinian cause and a sovereign, viable State of Palestine on the pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital,” the minister wrote on X.