US President Donald Trump said Monday that he would give Hamas a chance to honor the Gaza truce deal with Israel, but warned the group would be “eradicated” if it fails to do so.
“We made a deal with Hamas that they’re going to be very good, they’re going to behave, they’re going to be nice,” Trump told reporters at the White House as he hosted Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
“And if they’re not, we’re going to go and we’re going to eradicate them, if we have to. They’ll be eradicated, and they know that.”
Trump’s comments came as two of his top envoys met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after weekend violence threatened to wreck the fragile ceasefire the US president brokered nearly two weeks ago.
Trump however insisted that American forces would not be involved against Hamas, saying dozens of countries that have agreed to join an international stabilization forces for Gaza would “love to go in.”
“In addition, you have Israel would go in in two minutes, if I asked them to go in,” Trump said.
“But right now, we haven’t said that. We’re going to give it a little chance, and hopefully there will be a little less violence. But right now, you know, they’re violent people.”
Trump said that Hamas was now far weaker, especially given that regional backer Iran was now unlikely to step in on its behalf following US and Israeli strikes earlier this year.
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