It looks like President Donald Trump may have jumped the shark on declaring peace in the Middle East: less than 24 hours after declaring that the war between Israel and Hamas had finally finished, Trump promised to disarm Hamas by force, if they did not do it themselves.
During a meeting with Argentinian President Javier Milei Tuesday, Trump made a startling threat while dodging a question from a reporter about Hamas disarming. “How long will it take Hamas to disarm, and can you guarantee that is going to happen?” the reporter asked.
“Well, they’re going to disarm, because they said they were going to disarm. And if they don’t disarm, we will disarm them,” Trump replied.
“How will you do that?” the reporter pressed.
“I don’t have to explain that to you,” Trump bit back, adding, “They know I’m not playing games.”
Trump continued in a weaving ramble before circling back to the issue of disarming Hamas. “We have told them, we want disarm, and they will disarm. And if they don’t disarm, we will disarm them. And it will happen quickly, and perhaps violently. But they will disarm. Do you understand me?” he said.
It quickly became clear that Trump lacked any actual details about disarming Hamas. The president claimed that he’d spoken directly to Hamas, but later clarified he’d heard of their plans to disarm “through [his] people at the highest level.”
When asked how long the group would be given to disarm, Trump said they’d have a “reasonable period of time, pretty quickly.”
On Monday, Trump attended the signing of a peace deal between Israel and Hamas in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, following the release of the remaining 20 Israeli hostages in Gaza and nearly 2000 Palestinian prisoners in Israel, including 1,700 taken over the last two years and held without charges. Speaking before Israel’s Knesset that day, Trump said, “This is not only the end of a war, this is the end of an age of terror and death and the beginning of the age of faith and hope and of God.”
While both sides have agreed to this first phase of Trump’s 20-point peace plan, it’s still unclear whether peace will persist. Trump announced Tuesday that the second phase would commence, meaning “Hamas members who commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons will be given amnesty. Members of Hamas who wish to leave Gaza will be provided safe passage to receiving countries.”
Reuters reported Tuesday that Israel has continued to block essential aid into Gaza, while Hamas has begun executing political rivals in the streets, after receiving approval from Trump to act as police for a “period of time.”
If Trump’s latest comments are anything to go by, more bloodshed may yet be in Gaza’s future, following the formal end of Israel’s catastrophic military campaign that has killed more than 65,000 people—including medics and journalists—displaced nearly two million more, and caused widespread famine.
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