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By Dave DeCamp / Antiwar.com
President Trump on Tuesday said that Hamas will disarm and that if the group doesn’t do it voluntarily, “we” will force them, “perhaps violently,” suggesting a potential US role.
“If they don’t disarm, we will disarm them, and it will happen quickly and perhaps violently,” the president told reporters. “But they will disarm.”
When asked how he would disarm Hamas, the president said, “I don’t have to explain that to you … They know I’m not playing games.”
Trump also expressed support for some of Hamas’s recent armed actions in Gaza since the ceasefire went into effect. The group has reasserted control over areas vacated by the Israeli military and has executed alleged collaborators and criminals. Israel had been arming gangs and militias in Gaza as part of its strategy against Hamas.
“You know, they did take out a couple of gangs that were very bad. Very, very bad gangs, and they did take them out. And they killed a number of gang members, and that didn’t bother me much, to be honest with you. That’s OK, it’s a couple of very bad gangs,” Trump told reporters.
A day earlier, Trump said that Hamas had received “approval” to conduct such operations. “You have close to two million people going back to buildings that have been demolished, and a lot of bad things can happen. So, we want it to be safe. I think it’s going to be fine. Who knows for sure,” he said.
The president’s comments come amid uncertainty about the future of the ceasefire deal, which Israel has already violated. The ceasefire outline released by the White House called for the “demilitarization,” but that point hasn’t been finalized as an official deal between Israel and Hamas. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has said that the IDF will destroy the tunnels under Gaza, suggesting Israel is planning to restart the bombing campaign.
Hamas officials have maintained that the group’s military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, will not give up its arms until a Palestinian state is established, something Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed he will never allow to happen.
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Dave DeCamp
Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.