United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned Hamas, urging the Palestinian group to “disarm”.
“If they don’t disarm, we will disarm them. And it will happen quickly and perhaps violently,” Trump said during a meeting at the White House with Argentine President Javier Milei, according to AFP.
“I spoke to Hamas and I said ‘you’re gonna disarm and they said ‘yes sir, we’re going to disarm’,” Trump said, while adding that he conveyed his message to the group “through my people.”
The US President further urged Hamas to release the bodies of the hostages held in Gaza. “ALL TWENTY HOSTAGES ARE BACK AND FEELING AS GOOD AS CAN BE EXPECTED. A big burden has been lifted, but the job IS NOT DONE,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
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This comes a day after Trump swung by Middle East to celebrate the agreement of a ceasefire plan by Israel and Hamas.
Hours after completing visits to Israel and Egypt, Trump also announced the start of Phase 2 of his Gaza plan. “THE DEAD HAVE NOT BEEN RETURNED, AS PROMISED! Phase Two begins right NOW!!!” the US President said on Truth Social.
Trump, however, did not elaborate on how Hamas would be disarmed and who would be involved in doing so, and did not address whether this would include US forces.
While the disarming of Hamas was a key part of the next phase of Trump’s 20-point Gaza plan, the Palestinian group has refused to disarm.
Meanwhile, Hamas has still not returned the bodies of more than 20 dead hostages. The group had returned four bodies on Monday.
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir earlier on Tuesday threatened to cut off aid supplies to Gaza if Hamas failed to return the remains of soldiers who had been held in the territory, AFP reported.
