US President Donald Trump wants to see Hamas disarmed – even through the use of force if necessary. He spoke to representatives of the Islamist terrorist organization and they assured him that they would put down their weapons. “And if they don’t disarm themselves, we will disarm them, and that will happen quickly and perhaps violently,” he said at a meeting with Argentine leader Javier Milei.
He didn’t say who exactly he meant by “we”. Hamas has so far refused to hand over its weapons.
Trump did not want to comment specifically on a possible deadline. However, disarmament should take place “fairly, fairly quickly” within a “reasonable period of time”.
Trump told the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, on Monday that a large number of states in the Middle East wanted to see Hamas disarmed. Shortly before, during his flight to Israel, he had said, according to journalists traveling with him, that his government had given Hamas permission to temporarily arm itself again. Hamas is trying to restore order after months of war. “They spoke openly about it, and we gave them permission for a period of time,” Trump said.
