U.S. President Donald Trump said he believes Hamas will lay down its weapons under his Gaza peace plan, warning the terrorist organization will be “very harshly met” if they refuse to disarm.
“The war in Gaza is over,” Trump stated, addressing members of his Board of Peace during the body’s inaugural meeting on Thursday at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C.
“There are little flames,” he continued. “Hamas has been, I think, they’re going to give up their weapons, which is what they promised. If they don’t, it’ll be, you know, they’ll be harshly met, very harshly met.”
In his remarks, Trump claimed that the Islamist terrorists told him that, contrary to popular belief, “they don’t want to die.” He also gave Hamas credit for returning Israel Police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, the last hostage being held by the terrorist group in Gaza, whose remains were found by Israeli troops in late January.
“We said: ‘Well, you gotta get ‘em all, you promised them all.’ And they dug and dug and dug—and you could imagine, it’s a job that’s brutal,” Trump stated. “Hamas really did a lot of that work, and you gotta give ‘em credit for that. They brought the last one home a week ago.”
“We got all 28 of them, living and dead,” he said, referencing the hostages brought home as part of his most recent ceasefire deal.
Trump highlighted Qatar’s role in securing the truce, saying that Doha “needs a public relations agency, because you do so much good, and they have you down as evil—and you’re not evil, you help us so much, and you’re such a good ally, and I just want people to know that.”
The president said all countries that joined the Board of Peace, including the United States, had been “very generous with money.”
He said Washington would be contributing $10 billion to the Board of Peace. Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, UAE, Morocco, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and Kuwait pledged $7 billion for Gaza, he stated.
In addition to funding, some countries are “also pledging personnel to help preserve the ceasefire and secure their very enduring peace,” he said.
Indonesia, Morocco, Albania, Kosovo and Kazakhstan “have all committed troops and police to stabilize Gaza,” according to Trump, who said that other nations, like Egypt and Jordan, are likewise providing “substantial help” to create a “trustworthy” Palestinian police force.
Trump first announced on Feb. 16 that the Board pledged $5 billion “toward the Gaza humanitarian and reconstruction efforts, and has committed thousands of personnel to the International Stabilization Force and local police,” set to be deployed under his peace plan.
However, “very importantly,” Hamas terrorists must uphold their “commitment to full and immediate demilitarization,” he added.
Several top Hamas leaders, including Khaled Mashaal and Musa Abu Marzouk, have rejected key parts of the peace plan in recent weeks, including disarmament, despite having agreed to it in October.
