‘Kill them’: Huge Trump threat backfires

By Kate Schneider

Earlier this week, Trump threatened the Palestinian armed group with a violent response if the bloodshed continued.

“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,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social network.

He did not specify who he meant by “we”.

Trump later doubled down on his comments, telling Hamas they must behave.

“They also said they’re going to behave; we’re going to find out if they behave good. If they don’t behave, we’ll take care of it,” he said.

The warning comes after a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas went into effect last week.

Trump insisted that “they will disarm, and if they don’t disarm we will disarm them and it will happen quickly and perhaps violently.

“ … I spoke to Hamas and I said, ‘You’re going to disarm, right’, ‘yes sir, we’re going to disarm’, that’s what they told me.”

The US State Department said on Saturday, local time, that it has “credible reports” that Hamas was planning an imminent attack against civilians in Gaza which would be a “ceasefire violation”.

“This planned attack against Palestinian civilians would constitute a direct and grave violation of the ceasefire agreement and undermine the significant progress achieved through mediation efforts,” said the State Department in a statement.

“Should Hamas proceed with this attack, measures will be taken to protect the people of Gaza and preserve the integrity of the ceasefire.”

The statement did not elaborate on what those measures would entail.

Hamas and Israel agreed to a phased peace deal last week that saw Israel end its military offensive in Gaza in return for the release of the hostages that remained in the Palestinian group’s custody after its October 7, 2023, attack.

The first phase of the deal, involving the release of living hostages – and the return of the remains of those who are dead – is in the fraught process of implementation.

Washington said it had informed the guarantors of the peace deal – which include the United States, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey – of the “imminent ceasefire violation by Hamas.”

Earlier this week, Hamas tightened its grip on Gaza’s ruined cities, launching a crackdown and executing alleged collaborators.

Hamas published a video on its official channel showing the street execution of eight blindfolded and kneeling suspects, branding them “collaborators and outlaws.”

The footage was apparently from Monday evening.

– With AFP