US President Donald Trump has threatened Hamas, that “we will go in and kill” if they continue to kill people, escalating his rhetoric against the militant group as he works to preserve a fragile ceasefire with Israel.
“If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the Deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
The threat, delivered just three days after the truce was brokered, followed reports that Hamas fighters have taken advantage of the pause to violently reassert control over Gaza, targeting Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israeli forces during the conflict.
So far, Mr Trump has downplayed the likelihood of US forces taking part in peacekeeping as negotiations continue toward a longer-term resolution to the war.
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While Israel say it is preparing for the reopening of the Gaza Strip’s Rafah crossing with Egypt to let Palestinians in and out but has set no date as it traded blame with Hamas over violations of a US-mediated ceasefire.
A row over the return of bodies of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip retains the potential to upend the truce along with other major planks of the plan yet to be resolved, including disarmament of militants and the enclave’s future governance.
Government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian told reporters on Thursday that Israel remained committed to the agreement and continued to uphold its obligations, demanding Hamas return the bodies of the 19 deceased hostages it had not handed over.
The Islamist faction has handed over 10 bodies but Israel said one of them was not that of a hostage.
The militant group has said that it has handed over all bodies it could recover.’
Camera IconThe Gaza Strip has been reduced to vast tracts of rubble by the war between Hamas and Israel. (AP PHOTO) Credit: AAP
The armed wing of Hamas said the handover of more bodies in the Gaza Strip, which was reduced to vast tracts of rubble by the war, would require the admission of heavy machinery and excavating equipment into the Israel-blockaded Palestinian enclave.
On Thursday, a senior Hamas official accused Israel of flouting the ceasefire by having killed at least 24 people in shootings since Friday, and said a list of such violations was handed over to mediators.
“The occupying state is working day and night to undermine the agreement through its violations on the ground,” he said.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to the Hamas accusations.
It has previously said that some Palestinians have ignored warnings not to approach Israeli ceasefire positions and troops “opened fire to remove the threat”.
Israel has said the next phase of the 20-point peace plan engineered by US President Donald Trump’s administration calls for Hamas to relinquish its weapons and cede power, which it has so far refused to do.
Hamas has instead launched a security crackdown in urban areas vacated by Israeli forces, parading its power through public executions and clashes with local armed clans.
Twenty remaining living hostages were freed on Monday in exchange for thousands of Palestinians jailed in Israel.
Later on Thursday, the Gazan health ministry said Israel had released 30 bodies of Palestinians killed during the conflict, taking the total of bodies it has received since Monday to 120.
Longer-term elements of Trump’s plan, including the make-up of an international “stabilisation force” for the small, densely populated territory and moves towards creating a Palestinian state – rejected by Israel – have yet to be hashed out.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said on Thursday the foreign-backed Palestinian Authority (PA) would work with international institutions and partners to address the Gaza Strip’s security, logistical, financial and governance challenges.
An upcoming conference in Egypt on the enclave’s reconstruction would need to clarify how donor funds are organised, who would receive them and how they would be disbursed, he told reporters.
Hamas ejected the PA from the Gaza Strip in a brief civil war in 2007.
with AP and Reuters
