Trump says 'will eradicate Hamas’ if it breaks Gaza truce
Trump warned Hamas it faces eradication if it violates the Gaza truce, but said US forces won’t be deployed; VP JD Vance is en route to Israel
US President Donald Trump has threatened Hamas with eradication if it does not honor the Gaza peace deal. However, he said that he would give the militant group some time to abide by the truce.
Speaking to reporters to Monday (October 21) at the White House while hoisting Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Trump said that he was hopeful that the Palestinian armed group was going to behave.
"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," said Trump as quoted by AFP.
“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,” he added.
Hamas says committed to truce
However, Hamas’s main negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, told Egypt's Al-Qahera News that the Palestinian group was committed to maintaining the truce adding that it was facing difficulty in extracting bodies of some hostages.
Israel has accused Hamas of violating the peace deal by attacking Israeli troops and dragging its feet over returning the bodies of hostages.
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"We are finding it extremely difficult to extract the bodies, but we are serious and working hard to extract them," he said.
"The Gaza agreement will hold, because we want it to and our will to abide by it is strong."
‘US forces won’t confront Hamas’
Trump has also warned Hamas against public executions of its rivals as it seeks to regain control over war ravaged Gaza. However, the US President clarified that American troops would not be involved in confronting Hamas. He said that several countries have agreed to join an international stabilization force for Gaza.
"In addition, you have Israel would go in in two minutes, if I asked them to go in," Trump said.
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"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," he added.
"They got very rambunctious, and they did things that they shouldn't be doing, and if they keep doing it, then we're going to go in and straighten it out, and it'll happen very quickly and pretty violently."
‘Hamas has weakened significantly’
The US President argued that Hamas has weakened significantly as its regional backer, Iran, is in no condition to help them following US and Israeli strikes earlier this year.
"They don't have the backing of really anybody anymore. They have to be good, and if they're not good, they'll be eradicated," added Trump.
Within hours of Trump’s remarks on Monday Vice President JD Vance headed left for Israel to join to top US envoys after the latest violence threatened to disrupt the truce.