Washington: US President Donald Trump has warned that Israeli forces could resume military operations in Gaza if Hamas refuses to disarm, declaring that Israel would return to those streets as soon as I say the word.
In a phone interview with CNN this week, Trump said the fragile ceasefire with Hamas depends entirely on the militant group’s compliance with the disarmament deal. “If Israel could go in and knock the crap out of them, they’d do that,” he said, adding, “I had to hold them back.”
Trump emphasized that freeing hostages remained his administration’s top priority. “Getting those 20 hostages out was paramount,” he said. The International Red Cross confirmed late Wednesday that Hamas had handed over the bodies of two more hostages, but the slow pace of returns has inflamed tensions in Israel.
Asked whether Hamas fighters were executing civilians, Trump said he was “doing research on it” and suggested the group may be “clearing out the gangs, violent gangs,” before adding: “We’ll find out about it. It could be gangs plus.”
His remarks came as Israeli officials accused Hamas of violating its commitments under the ceasefire agreement.
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Israeli intel claims Hamas has access to more bodies Israeli intelligence shared with the US claimed that Hamas had access to more bodies than claimed by the Palestinian militant group, Reuters reported, citing Axios. Israel told the US that Hamas was not doing enough to recover the bodies of dead Israeli hostages, and that the Gaza deal cannot move into the next phase until that changes. |
