Both Israel and Hamas took US President Donald Trump's '48-hours' statement on Saturday seriously, treating it as a hard deadline, after which sanctions could follow, N12 reported on Monday.
However, US officials said that Trump's message, which called on Hamas terrorists to return the remains of hostages still held in the Gaza Strip was not a hard ultimatum, but was meant to clarify the Trump administration's position that Hamas "must act urgently" to return remains, the report noted.
An Israeli official highlighted that Hamas have acted in a way that appears to show they took the message seriously, as they announced they would return remains three hours before the end of the 48-hour period Trump originally mentioned, N12 added.
If Hamas does not return hostage remains, a move must be made to show Hamas that Israel and the US are serious, Israel clarified to Washington, according to the report.
The Trump administration opposed sanctions including cutting humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, arguing that doing so would harm Gazans, and not Hamas or other terrorists, the report added.
A proposal more widely supported by the Trump administration to sanction Hamas would be discussing shifting the Yellow Line further west, allowing the IDF to reoccupy areas from which it withdrew, N12 noted.
Trump calls on Qatar to pressure Hamas for hostage remains returns
Trump also recently discussed the issue of remains of hostage with the Qatari emir during their meeting on Saturday, particularly calling on Doha to pressure Hamas to return the remains of Israeli-Americans Itay Chen and Omer Neutra.