United States President Donald Trump has suggested that several countries in the Middle East have offered to send forces to Gaza to fight Hamas, renewing his threats to the Palestinian group amid the fragile ceasefire in the territory.
“Numerous of our NOW GREAT ALLIES in the Middle East, and areas surrounding the Middle East, have explicitly and strongly, with great enthusiasm, informed me that they would welcome the opportunity, at my request, to go into GAZA with a heavy force and ‘straighten our Hamas’ if Hamas continues to act badly, in violation of their agreement with us,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday.
Trump did not specify which countries offered to go into Gaza, but he did single out Indonesia for its assistance in the region.
“I would like to thank the great and powerful country of Indonesia, and its wonderful leader, for all of the help they have shown and given to the Middle East, and to the USA,” Trump said.
Jakarta and other governments have offered to send peacekeeping troops to restore security and stability in Gaza, but no country has said that it would be willing to clash directly with Hamas.
“The love and spirit for the Middle East has not been seen like this in a thousand years! It is a beautiful thing to behold! I told these countries, and Israel, ‘NOT YET!’ There is still hope that Hamas will do what is right,” the US president said.
“If they do not, an end to Hamas will be FAST, FURIOUS, & BRUTAL!”
Israel has killed nearly 100 Palestinians since the ceasefire took effect on October 10.
Trump often issues similar threats to Hamas. But it is not clear what the US or any other force can do to strong-arm the Palestinian group that Israel has not.
Over the past two years, Israel has killed most of Hamas’s political and military leaders, while also killing more than 68,000 other Palestinians, levelling Gaza to the ground, and imposing famine on the territory in a campaign that leading rights groups and United Nations investigators say is a genocide.
Shaky ceasefire
Trump had been hailing the ceasefire, which his administration helped broker, as a historic turning point to bring peace to the region.
But from the outset of the truce, Israel has been killing Palestinians it claims were approaching areas under control of the Israeli military, which are not clearly marked.
Moreover, Israel has continued to restrict aid to Gaza despite commitments in the deal to allow a surge in humanitarian assistance to the territory.
According to the Gaza Government Media Office, Israel has only allowed the entry of 986 aid trucks into the enclave since the start of the ceasefire, a fraction of the expected 6,600 trucks, at a rate of 600 daily.
On Sunday, the agreement was pushed to the brink when Israel launched a wave of air strikes that killed dozens of Palestinians and fully suspended the entry of aid to Gaza after two Israeli soldiers were killed in Rafah.
Israel blamed Hamas for killing the troops, but the Palestinian group denied any involvement, underscoring that the incident took place in an area under Israeli control.
Some US media outlets reported that the Israeli soldiers were killed after they drove over an unexploded ordnance.
Besides the day-to-day issues threatening the truce, question marks continue to hang over the long-term future of Gaza, including how the territory will be governed.
Trump has stressed that Hamas must disarm, but the Palestinian group has linked giving up its weapons to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
On Sunday, Trump told Fox News that there is no hard timeline for Hamas disarmament.
Later that day, his vice president, JD Vance, who is currently visiting Israel, suggested that an international force needs to deploy to Gaza and establish “security infrastructure” before Hamas disarms.
Vance optimistic about ceasefire
Speaking to reporters in Israel later on Tuesday, Vance expressed optimism about the future of the ceasefire, saying that the bursts of violence were not unexpected.
“We are doing very well. We’re in a very good place. We’re going to have to keep working on it, but I think we have the team to do exactly that,” he said.
Vance reiterated that Hamas must disarm, but he acknowledged that the process will take time.
Asked about efforts to return the bodies of slain Israeli captives, an issue that Israel has cited to justify blocking aid to Gaza, the US vice president highlighted the difficulty in reaching the remains amid the widespread destruction.
“This is not going to happen overnight,” he said. “Some of the hostages are buried under thousands of pounds of rubble. Some of the hostages no one even knows where they are.”
While the bodies of around 15 Israelis remain in Gaza, thousands of Palestinians have gone missing throughout the war, many presumed dead and buried under the rubble.
Israel has returned the bodies of at least 135 Palestinian captives to Gaza, with many showing signs of torture and execution, according to health officials in the territory.
On Tuesday, Vance announced the opening of the Civilian Military Co-operation Centre (CMCC), a US-led base in Israel that will facilitate reconstruction and aid delivery to Gaza.
Brad Cooper, the commander of the Middle East-based Central Command of the US military, said there are 200 American troops serving at the centre.
“This facility will be the hub for the delivery of everything that goes into Gaza as we look to the future,” he told reporters.
The US military had said that American soldiers would not be on the ground inside Gaza.
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