A senior Hamas official has thanked President Donald Trump for his role in securing a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

In an exclusive interview with Sky News’ lead world news presenter Yalda Hakim, senior Hamas official Dr Basem Naim also warned that former UK Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair would not be welcome in any post-war role for Gaza.

Latest updates: Palestinians head back north – as Israel pulls troops back

Israel and Hamas have agreed to a first phase of a peace deal brokered by the US president, with a ceasefire taking effect on Friday.

Dr Naim said the ceasefire would not have been possible without President Trump, but insisted he needed to continue to apply pressure to Israel to stick to the agreement.

He added that Hamas would be willing to step aside for a Palestinian body to govern a post-war Gaza, but that they would remain “on the ground” and would not be disarmed.

Dr Naim said in the interview: “Without the personal interference of President Trump in this case, I don’t think that it would have happened to have reached the end of the war.

“Therefore, yes, we thank President Trump and his personal efforts to interfere and to pressure Israel to bring an end to this massacre and slaughtering.”

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He added: “We believe and we hope that President Trump will continue to interfere personally and to exercise the maximum pressure on [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to fulfil its obligation.

“First, as according to the deal, and second, according to the international law as an occupying power, because I think without this pressure, without this personal interference from President Trump, this will not happen.

“We have already seen Netanyahu speaking to the media, threatening to go to war again if this doesn’t happen, if that doesn’t happen.”

Questions remain over the next phases of the peace plan, including who will govern Gaza as Israeli troops gradually pull back and whether Hamas will disarm – as called for in Mr Trump’s ceasefire plan.

Mr Netanyahu has hinted that Israel might renew its offensive if Hamas does not give up its weapons.

However, Dr Naim said Hamas would not completely disarm and that weapons would only be handed over to the Palestinian state, with fighters integrated into the Palestinian National Army.

“No one has the right to deny us the right to resist the occupation of armies,” he said.

On future governance, Dr Naim criticised plans for Sir Tony to play any role in overseeing the future of Gaza, saying that Hamas and Palestinians were angered by his role in previous wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Dr Naim added: “When it comes to Tony Blair, unfortunately, we Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims and maybe others around the world have bad memories of him.

“We can still remember his role in killing, causing thousands or millions of deaths to innocent civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“We can still remember him very well after destroying Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Under Mr Trump’s plans, Sir Tony would form part of an international supervisory body.

The international body, the Council of Peace or Board of Peace, would govern under plans approved by Mr Netanyahu.

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The body would hold most power while overseeing the administration of Palestinian technocrats running day-to-day affairs.

It would also hold the commanding role of directing reconstruction in Gaza.

Dr Naim added that Hamas was satisfied Mr Trump’s plan would achieve peace in Gaza.

But he said it could never be fully satisfied after accusing Israel of genocide.

Israel has continually denied this, claiming it has been fighting Hamas terrorists to defend itself following the October 7 massacre in 2023.

In the exhibition room of Berlin’s old Tempelhof Airport, three burned-out cars lie on their sides.

The windows, interiors and paintwork are gone; all that remains are lumps of twisted and rusted metal. Next to them is a rough circle of tents and scattered mats.

A picnic chair has toppled over on one, others are strewn with abandoned bags, camping equipment and discarded fairy lights.

“Everything you see here is original from the festival on October 7th,” Ofir Amir explains.

He’s referring to the Nova Music Festival, where around 400 people were murdered on 7 October 2023.

In the week where peace finally feels like a possibility, Ofir is remembering those killed in a massacre that sparked the latest conflict.

All around us are tables of abandoned items left behind in the panic. One displays clothes; another is filled with shoes.

All of them are reminders of a day, Ofir, who was a co-founder of the festival, nearly didn’t survive.

“When the terrorists came to the festival area, we saw them just shooting into the crowd that was running away from them,” he tells me.

Ofir and his friends managed to jump into a car and started to drive away, but they were cornered by Hamas militants who opened fire.

One of their friends died, and Ofir was shot in both legs. He remembers he was on the phone to his wife, who was nine months pregnant at the time.

‘How will my wife raise a child alone’

“This was all I could ever think about,” he says, “that I might not come home, and how will my wife raise a child alone.”

Ofir’s friends used what they could to stop the bleeding and managed to keep him alive until help came.

The memorial exhibition was created in memory of those who died.

It’s already opened in cities including New York and Toronto, but on the second anniversary of the October 7 attacks, the exhibition began its first European show in Berlin.

“With so much hate going on, so much antisemitism everywhere on the streets, all over the world, it’s important to show the world and give them a reminder when you go so blindly and follow hate, what the outcome can be,” Ofir says.

Omri Sasi, also a co-founder and DJ at the Nova Music Festival, was in the car with Ofir when they were hit.

He picks out faces from a long line of photos which cover one wall.

‘They were murdered together’

“This is my uncle, Avi Sasi. This is Alex Luke, my friend from Montreal… they were murdered together,” he says.

Beside them are the photos of Omri’s pregnant cousin and her husband, who were also killed.

Despite their losses, Omri and Ofir say they don’t want the exhibition to focus on religion or politics but to help spread peace.

However, the memorial event has faced some opposition; for example, several hundred demonstrators protested against Israel at the exhibit in New York.

In Los Angeles, Omri says a pro-Palestinian group also gathered outside the show. He invited them in, and they talked about the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

‘We cried together’

“We cried together, we hugged each other and we understood that the best way to deal with this war is to talk,” he says. “Not to fight and not hit people.”

More than 60,000 Gazans have died in the Israel-Hamas war, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.

Omri tells me he has friends in Gaza, that he wants the ceasefire to hold, and Gazans “to have a good life” – but he’s also deeply concerned by the rise in antisemitism he’s seen in the last two years.

“People are scared,” he says. “Even when I go out here in Berlin, I look around myself and I try to not speak in Hebrew, and this is sad.

“It doesn’t need to be like this.”

Authorities across Europe have warned about growing hate and violence against Jewish people since the October 7 attack.

The fatal synagogue attack in Manchester has added to the fear.

This week, Germany’s domestic intelligence chief said antisemitism had increased with sometimes open calls for attacks on Jewish institutions, while the country’s chancellor denounced the trend as “shameful”.

At the Berlin exhibition, Liora Furema says she’s worried about her safety as a Jewish student when she goes to university or to the synagogue.

“At any Jewish event, I think about my security,” she explained.

It’s hoped the ceasefire will be the beginning of the end of the war in Gaza, but the fear of antisemitism remains.

Rather than deepening the divisions, the organisers say the show is a reminder of the dangers of allowing hate to flourish. They now are focusing on healing.

“Our message is, we will dance again,” says Omri. “Whatever happened to us, we are standing and dancing again. Terror cannot beat us.”

Donald Trump has announced the US will impose an additional 100% tariff on China imports, accusing it of taking an “extraordinarily aggressive position” on trade.

In a post to his Truth Social platform on Friday, the US president said Beijing had sent an “extremely hostile letter to the world” and imposed “large-scale export controls on virtually every product they make”.

Mr Trump, who warned the additional tariffs would start on 1 November, said the US would also impose export controls on all critical software to China.

The president added that he was imposing the tariffs because of export controls placed on rare earths by China.

He wrote: “Based on the fact that China has taken this unprecedented position, and speaking only for the USA, and not other nations who were similarly threatened, starting November 1st, 2025 (or sooner, depending on any further actions or changes taken by China), the United States of America will impose a tariff of 100% on China, over and above any tariff that they are currently paying.

“It is impossible to believe that China would have taken such an action, but they have, and the rest is history. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Mr Trump said earlier on Friday that there “seems to be no reason” to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in a scheduled meeting as part of an upcoming trip to South Korea at the end of this month.

He had posted: “I was to meet President Xi in two weeks, at APEC, in South Korea, but now there seems no reason to do so.”

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The trip was scheduled to include a stop in Malaysia, which is hosting the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, a stop in Japan and then the stop to South Korea, where Mr Trump would meet Mr Xi ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

Mr Trump added: “There are many other countermeasures that are, likewise, under serious consideration.”

The move signalled the biggest rupture in relations in six months between Beijing and Washington – the world’s biggest
factory and its biggest consumer.

It also threatens to escalate tensions between the two countries, prompting fears over the stability of the global economy.

Friday was Wall Street’s worst day since April, with the S&P 500 falling 2.7%, owing to fears about US-China relations.

China had restricted the access to rare earths ahead of the meeting between Presidents Trump and Xi.

Under the restrictions, Beijing would require foreign companies to get special approval for shipping the metallic elements abroad.