Newsletters
United States President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the U.S. “will disarm” Hamas if the Palestinian group does not do so voluntarily, while urging the group to release the bodies of deceased hostages.
“If they don’t disarm, we will disarm them,” Trump told reporters at the White House, hours after returning from Israel and Egypt. “And it will happen quickly and perhaps violently.”
Trump said he conveyed his message to Hamas “through my people,” not through direct communication. “I spoke to Hamas and I said, ‘You’re gonna disarm,’ and they said, ‘Yes sir, we’re going to disarm,’” he said, without elaborating on who would carry out the disarmament or whether U.S. forces would be involved.
His remarks came a day after he visited the Middle East to celebrate the Gaza cease-fire deal, as questions mounted over the next phases of the agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Hamas has so far refused to disarm, despite it being a key element of Trump’s 20-point plan for a cease-fire and long-term peace in the Middle East.
While all 20 living hostages held by Hamas were freed on Monday, the group continues to hold the bodies of 24 deceased hostages. Hamas returned four bodies earlier this week.
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on Tuesday threatened to cut off aid to Gaza if Hamas fails to return the remains of Israeli soldiers still held in the enclave.
“ALL TWENTY HOSTAGES ARE BACK AND FEELING AS GOOD AS CAN BE EXPECTED. A big burden has been lifted, but the job IS NOT DONE,” Trump wrote earlier on his Truth Social platform. “THE DEAD HAVE NOT BEEN RETURNED, AS PROMISED! Phase Two begins right NOW!!!”
During his Middle East trip, Trump declared a “historic dawn of a new Middle East” after he and regional leaders signed a declaration solidifying the Gaza cease-fire.
A Gaza hospital said it received the bodies of 45 Palestinians handed over by Israel as part of the same agreement to end the war.
Trump also claimed that Hamas had recently eliminated “a couple of gangs,” without identifying which groups he was referring to. “They did take out a couple of gangs that were very bad, very, very bad gangs,” he told reporters at the White House alongside Argentine President Javier Milei.
They killed a number of gang members, and that didn’t bother me much, to be honest with you. That’s okay. It’s a couple of very bad gangs," he added.
Trump announced the start of “Phase Two” of the Gaza cease-fire agreement on Tuesday following the release of Israeli hostages under the first stage of the deal brokered by Türkiye, the U.S., Qatar, and Egypt.
“All twenty hostages are back and feeling as good as can be expected,” Trump reiterated on Truth Social. “A big burden has been lifted, but the job is not done. The dead have not been returned, as promised! Phase Two begins right now!!!”
Under the next phase of the U.S.-backed plan, Gaza will see the establishment of a new governing mechanism, the creation of a multinational force, and the disarmament of Hamas.
The hostage-prisoner exchange that began Monday saw hundreds of Palestinian detainees freed from Israel’s Ofer military prison and other facilities in the Negev Desert, while Hamas released all 20 living Israeli hostages.
Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi convened a high-level summit Monday in Sharm el-Sheikh, gathering world leaders to rally international support for the cease-fire plan.
Since October 2023, Israeli attacks have killed more than 67,000 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them women and children, leaving the enclave largely uninhabitable.
1 min read
2 min read
