President Donald Trump, during a whirlwind 12 hours in the Middle East on Monday, celebrated a “new dawn” for the region as the first phase of a ceasefire deal he helped broker between Israel and Hamas got underway.
But as he returned to Washington, Trump faced tough questions on what comes next.
One key issue on ensuring a long-lasting peace is the disarmament of Hamas, as called for in Trump’s 20-point peace plan but not explicitly handled in the initial phase of the agreement.
ABC News White House Correspondent Karen Travers asked Trump at the White House on Tuesday how long it would take Hamas to do so and if he could guarantee it would happen.
“Well, they’re going to disarm, and because they said they were going to disarm. And if they don’t disarm, we will disarm them,” Trump said.
“How will you do that?” ABC’s Travers asked.
“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, okay. … 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.
Pressed on what the deadline is for Hamas to disarm, Trump said “pretty quickly.”
“A reasonable period of time,” Trump said.
The president, talking to reporters on Air Force One on his way home overnight, said his focus now was on rebuilding Gaza, which has been demolished by two years of war. The United Nations now says the reconstruction of the enclave could cost upwards of $70 billion.
But Trump didn’t elaborate on a specific vision, instead saying thornier issues of Palestinian statehood and governing of the Gaza Strip would be worked out later.
“Well, we’re gonna have to see,” Trump said on the flight. “I mean, a lot of people like the one-state solution. Some people like the two-state solutions. We’ll have to see.”
On how to bridge that gap, the president said at some point he would decide “what I think is right” in coordination with other countries.
Asked to comment further on the second phase of his peace plan and the status of negotiations, Trump only said there was “a lot of power” in the group of world leaders that gathered in Egypt on Monday for talks on Gaza’s future.
“Those are, you know, really seriously rich countries, and they can handle it,” Trump said.
Trump was surrounded by leaders and representatives of more than 20 countries in Sharm El-Sheikh, where he and three mediators involved in the Israel-Hamas negotiations signed a document backing his peace plan.
Trump touted the memorandum as “historic” but it appeared largely symbolic, as it contained no specifics on what comes next other than broad commitments from the U.S., Egypt, Turkey and Qatar to “pursue a comprehensive vision of peace, security, and shared prosperity in the region, grounded in the principles of mutual respect and shared destiny.”
Not present in Egypt and not signing the document was Israel and Hamas.
Emotional scenes played out in Israel and Gaza on Monday as the remaining living 20 Israeli hostages were reunited with their families and Palestinian prisoners were freed and returned to Gaza — a major diplomatic accomplishment for Trump after months of tense negotiations.
Though in a sign of the fragility of the ceasefire agreement, Israel on Monday accused Hamas of a “blatant violation” when it didn’t immediately return all the remains of four deceased hostages. The U.N. then said Israeli authorities announced it would cut in half the number of trucks allowed to carry aid into Gaza as a response.
Asked Tuesday at the White House if Hamas deal will hold up its end of the deal, President Trump responded: “We’ll find out.”
Trump later said Hamas “misrepresented” the number of dead hostages, calling it a “very tough subject.”
“I want them back. That’s what they said. I want them back,” he said of the bodies of the deceased hostages.
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