President Trump said on Thursday that if Hamas continued to kill people in Gaza, “we will have no choice but to go in and kill them,” a stark warning after Hamas fighters were captured on video in recent days executing members of rival groups in the Palestinian territory.
“If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the Deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them,” Mr. Trump wrote in a social media post.
The president later clarified that the U.S. military would not be the one to target Hamas in that scenario. “Somebody will go in,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “It’s not going to be us.”
Mr. Trump added that the bodies of hostages held by Hamas had been returned to Israel on Thursday. “They also said they’re going to behave,” he said. “We’re going to find out if they behave; if they behave good. If they don’t behave, we’ll take care of it.”
Mr. Trump’s suggestion of potential strikes against the terrorist group came after he made a series of conflicting statements in recent days about how his administration would implement the next steps of a cease-fire deal he negotiated with the goal of ending the war between Hamas and Israel in Gaza.
Mr. Trump’s plan to end the war requires Hamas to lay down its weapons and allow an international force to stabilize the territory. Analysts, however, say that Hamas has been fighting rival groups to assert its dominance in Gaza.
The outbreak of internal violence in the territory has fueled questions over how Mr. Trump can guarantee the disarming of Hamas.
On Monday, Mr. Trump suggested that his administration was not opposed to Hamas reasserting itself as a police force in Gaza and shooting rivals.
“They’ve been open about it, and we gave them approval for a period of time,” Mr. Trump said.
On Tuesday, Mr. Trump again seemed to not be concerned about the violence. He said at the White House that Hamas had “taken out a couple of gangs that were very bad,” and added, “That didn’t bother me very much, to be honest.”
On the same day, he issued a warning to Hamas to give up their weapons.
“If they don’t disarm, we will disarm them,” Mr. Trump said. “And it will happen quickly and perhaps violently.”
The next day, Mr. Trump told reporters that he did not see any reason for the U.S. military to get involved in Gaza.
Zolan Kanno-Youngs is a White House correspondent for The Times, covering President Trump and his administration.
The post Trump Warns Hamas of Strikes if Violence in Gaza Continues appeared first on New York Times.
