Trump-Gaza latest: US president warns that Hamas must disarm or ‘we will disarm them – perhaps violently’
Donald Trump said he has told Hamas to disarm or “we will disarm them” as the militant group handed four more bodies of deceased hostages to Israel on Tuesday night.
Trump said he passed on the message to Hamas through intermediaries, saying: “I spoke to Hamas, and I said, you’re going to disarm, right? Yes, sir, we’re going to disarm. That’s what they told me”.
“If they don’t disarm, we will disarm them. And it will happen quickly and perhaps violently,” Trump said, adding Hamas “took out two very evil gangs” in Gaza and “killed a number of them”.
Trump’s warning came as re-emergent Hamas fighters demonstrated they were reasserting control in Gaza by deploying hundreds of security forces in the streets and executing several people they accused of collaborating with Israel.
With four more bodies returned on Tuesday night, Hamas has now handed over eight coffins of dead hostages, leaving at least 19 presumed dead and one unaccounted for still in the Gaza Strip.
The bodies were returned after Israel announced it would cut in half the number of humanitarian aid going into Gaza to pressure Hamas as Israel accused the militant group of violating the ceasefire agreement.
