U.S. President Donald Trump issued a stark ultimatum to Hamas on Tuesday, insisting the terror group must uphold a commitment to disarm or face the consequences, which he warned could be "violent."
The President's comments came as he publicly pressured Hamas to fulfill the terms of the recently brokered ceasefire by returning the remains of all deceased Israeli hostages, a condition he stressed had not yet been met.
Disarmament Mandate
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump claimed his administration had secured an agreement from the terror group to lay down arms.
"I spoke to Hamas, and I said, ‘You’re going to disarm, right?’ ‘Yes, sir. We’re going to disarm.’ That’s what they told me. They will disarm or we will disarm them," Trump stated.
He later clarified that this communication was routed through his "people," a reference to U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who were involved in negotiations with Hamas’s top negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, in Sharm el-Sheikh last week.
When pressed on how he could guarantee Hamas would follow through, Trump was unequivocal: “We have told them we want them to disarm, and they will disarm. And if they don’t disarm, we will disarm them, and it’ll happen quickly and perhaps violently, but they will disarm.”
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