The US president’s statement follows a major prisoner swap under a ceasefire deal between the militant group and Israel
Hamas must disarm or be disarmed by force, US President Donald Trump has said, adding that he had communicated the demand to the militant group.
On Monday, Hamas freed the last 20 living Israeli hostages held in Gaza, and Israel sent home nearly 2,000 Palestinian detainees under a ceasefire deal brokered by the US, Qatar, Egypt, and Türkiye.
Trump made the remarks on Tuesday while hosting Argentine President Javier Milei at the White House. “If they don’t disarm, we will disarm them, and it’ll happen quickly and perhaps violently, but they will disarm,” Trump said responding to a reporter’s question.
“But they will disarm, do you understand me?” he added, insisting that it should take place in a “reasonable period of time.”
Trump stated that he had conveyed this message to Hamas, which agreed to disarm in accordance with his 20-point peace proposal.
The US president later clarified that he communicated with Hamas through intermediaries.
Speaking to CNN on Wednesday, Trump doubled down by saying that he could agree to Israel resuming its military operation in Gaza if the militant group refuses to lay down its arms. “Israel will return to those streets as soon as I say the word. If Israel could go in and knock the crap of them, they’d do that,” he said.
Trump’s previous comments have indicated, however, that Hamas could retain a limited presence in Gaza, following reports of a direct meeting between White House envoys and Hamas negotiators, which marked the highest-level discussions ever held between the two parties.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated earlier this week that Trump’s peace plan for Gaza is “the best thing on the table” at the moment, but it does not fully resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
He emphasized that while the plan focuses primarily on Gaza, it only vaguely references Palestinian statehood.
The final settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would require “the creation of a single, territorially integral Palestinian state within the 1967 borders” in line with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, Lavrov said, adding that Moscow remains committed to a two-state solution.
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