President Trump said on Monday that Hamas must “behave” in Gaza or the Palestinian group would be “eradicated,” echoing similar threats he has made since the ceasefire deal was signed.
“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, and if not, we’re going to eradicate them if we have to,” the president told reporters at the White House.
Trump suggested that Israel was eager to restart its genocidal war if he gave the word. “Israel would go in in two minutes if I asked them. I could tell them, ‘Go in and take care of it.’ But right now, we haven’t said that. We’re going to give it a little chance,” he said.
His comments came a day after Israel unleashed heavy airstrikes across Gaza, killing at least 45 Palestinians, after claiming IDF troops came under attack in Rafah, though some reports say the blast was caused by an Israeli vehicle running over an unexploded ordnance.
Discussing the alleged attack on Sunday, Trump suggested that if it was a Hamas operation, it was not carried out under the direction of leadership. He made similar comments on Monday, saying, “I don’t believe it was the leadership, but they have some rebellion in there among themselves.”
While Trump has not addressed Israel’s repeated attacks on Gaza, which have killed at least 80 Palestinians since the truce went into effect, he accused Hamas of being in violation of the ceasefire and warned it will “be taken care of really quickly” if Hamas does not “straighten it out themselves.”
The US has also been critical of Hamas’s clashes with other armed groups and executions of alleged Israeli collaborators and criminals. Trump previously expressed support for the executions, saying they took out “very bad” gang members, but has since threatened to “go in and kill” Hamas over the internal killings.
