U.S. President Donald Trump issued a stark warning to Hamas after footage surfaced appearing to show the group executing Palestinians during a ceasefire with Israel.
“If Hamas continues to k!ll people in Gaza, which was not the Deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
“Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
He later sought to clarify that any renewed offensive he threatened would not involve U.S. troops directly.
“It’s not going to be us, we won’t have to,” he said in the Oval Office Thursday.
“There are people very close, very nearby that will go and they’ll do the trick very easily, but under our auspices.”
Trump has repeatedly downplayed the likelihood of U.S. forces becoming involved in peacekeeping even as negotiators work toward a lasting end to the conflict. At one point he even declared the war was effectively “over.”
He had also initially shrugged off reports that Hamas was cracking down on gangs in Gaza, saying;
“They did take out a couple of gangs that were very bad,” and adding, “And that didn’t bother me much, to be honest with you. That’s OK.”
Since those remarks, videos circulated online that appear to show Hamas fighters taking part in public executions. The footage has intensified scrutiny of Hamas’s behavior during the ceasefire and sharpened questions about who will enforce its terms.
Trump’s 20-point peace plan called for Hamas to surrender weapons and relinquish power — steps the group has not taken. Under the plan, Hamas members who chose to leave Gaza would be granted safe passage to another country. Instead, Hamas fighters have been fighting rival Palestinian factions as Israeli forces have pulled back.
During a recent Oval Office meeting with Argentine President Javier Milei, Trump again warned Hamas to comply with the agreement.
‘They will disarm, and if they don’t do so, we will disarm them, and it’ll happen quickly and perhaps violently,’ Trump said.
