The US President Donald Trump said there is “not a timeline, not a hard line” for the Palestinian militant group Hamas to disarm under his US-brokered Gaza ceasefire deal, while reiterating that the US or its proxies stand ready to do it, if needed.
Speaking to Fox News, Mr Trump acknowledged that while the group has made pledges to relinquish its weapons, the volatile nature of the region left open the possibility of “some other people”, including Israel, backed by the US, taking action to rid the group of arms.
“They [Hamas] promised they would. They said they would. But these are very violent people. This is a very violent part of the world. Nobody's seen violence like this,” he said.
When pressed on whether there was a specific deadline, Mr Trump said: “If we have to, we'll disarm them … whether it's me or the US or … a proxy, could be Israel with our backing, we won't have boots on the ground. There's no reason to."
The comments come amid mounting international attention on the next phases of the ceasefire package and wider peace plan introduced by the Trump administration. The truce took effect on October 11 and halted two years of war, but the Israeli government and Hamas have been accusing each other of breaching the terms since.
Mr Trump said the deal was “respected by everybody”, and had backing from Arab and Muslim nations. He praised his ally Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “very brave” and “a great warrior”.
On Gaza’s reconstruction, Mr Trump referred to his much-criticised plan to take control of the territory and permanently relocate its Palestinian residents, and said he had originally wanted Egypt and Jordan, “which have a lot of land right next door”, to host the displaced Palestinians.
“The whole thing [Gaza] is all rubble, so it’s not too hard to top that, and we’d build houses … paid for by the wealthiest countries” in the region, he said. He outlined a vision to turn the war-torn enclave into a future “freedom place”.
Mr Trump added that a “board of peace” is being established to oversee reconstruction and regional stability, and that he has been asked to chair it.
“Peace in the Middle East is a big thing. I’ve heard that term all my life … peace in the Middle East, for 3,000 years it hasn’t happened,” he said.
Asked whether he had to rely on Qatar to pressure Hamas to accept the ceasefire deal, Mr Trump said: “I didn’t have to make too much of a case because they are very smart people.”
