Trump says the US could force Hamas to disarm if it refuses. Photo / Kevin Dietsch, Getty Images
President Donald Trump said today that the United States could step in to disarm Hamas – “quickly and perhaps violently” – if the organisation did not do so itself.
It is a potential vulnerability in a US-brokered ceasefire agreement that has tentatively brought an end to two years of war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Hamas, which has controlled Gaza for nearly two decades, has not yet publicly agreed to or signed anything that specifies how it will disarm, though Trump suggested today that he had received verbal assurances the group would.
“Everyone says, ‘Oh, well, they won’t disarm.’ They will disarm,” Trump said at a White House event with Argentine President Javier Milei.
“And I spoke to Hamas and I said, ‘You’re going to disarm, right?’ ‘Yes, sir, we’re going to disarm.’ That’s what they told me. They will disarm or we will disarm them. Got it?”
Trump declined to provide specifics on how the US would do that and, when asked about a deadline, said only that it would be “a reasonable period of time”.
“I don’t have to explain that to you, but if they don’t disarm, we will disarm them. They know I’m not playing games,” he said.
Later, Trump went on a tangent about the deployment of National Guard troops to Washington, DC, that suggested he believed Hamas could not yet disarm because they needed to “take out a couple of gangs that were very bad”.
“We have told them we want [them to] disarm and they will disarm. And if they don’t disarm, we will disarm them. And it’ll happen quickly and perhaps violently, but they will disarm. Do you understand me?” Trump said.
Trump’s warning indicates one of several minefields to navigate as Israel and Hamas move on to the second phase of negotiations over the ceasefire agreement.
Hamas returned all 20 surviving hostages yesterday, more than two years after they were kidnapped, as part of the ceasefire deal’s first phase.
At various points over the past two years, Hamas has said it was ready to relinquish political control over Gaza, but giving up its weapons would be a red line.
This time, Hamas has publicly agreed to Trump’s 20-point peace plan, two points of which are related to disarmament.
One point dictates that Hamas members who “commit to peaceful coexistence and to decommission their weapons” will be given amnesty after all the hostages are returned.
Another point states that all of Hamas’ military infrastructure, “including tunnels and weapons production facilities”, will be destroyed.
“There will be a process of demilitarisation of Gaza under the supervision of independent monitors, which will include placing weapons permanently beyond use through an agreed process of decommissioning, and supported by an internationally funded buy back and reintegration programme all verified by the independent monitors,” the plan states.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters at the weekend that his country is “encircling Hamas from all directions” before the plan “in which Hamas will be disarmed, and Gaza will be demilitarised”.
“If this is achieved in the easy way, it’s all for the better. And if not, it will be achieved the hard way,” Netanyahu said.
Already, Israeli officials have accused Hamas of breaching the terms of the agreement.
The bodies of 28 deceased hostages were also due to be released under the agreement, but Hamas only returned four bodies yesterday and four today.
The bodies transferred today have not yet been forensically identified. During negotiations, Hamas had warned that it would not be able to recover all the remains by the 72-hour deadline.
Israel’s Defence Minister said Hamas was failing to meet its commitments. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents many hostages’ relatives, called it a “blatant breach” of the agreement.
Israel’s defence establishment recommended today that the Government keep the Rafah border crossing with Egypt closed and not fully transfer aid into Gaza until the hostages’ remains are returned, according to a person familiar with the details.
Trump accused Hamas of having “misrepresented” the number of dead hostages whose bodies they would be able to return.
“We were told they had 26, 24 of dead hostages … and it seems as though they don’t have that, because we’re talking about a much lesser number,” Trump said.
- Karen DeYoung and Erin Cunningham contributed to this report.
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor’s Picks, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week’s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here.