Trump Says U.S. Will Disarm Hamas If It Does Not Do So Itself

The Washington Post

12:25 JST, October 15, 2025

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States could step in to disarm Hamas – “quickly and perhaps violently” – if the organization did not do so itself, a potential vulnerability in a U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement that has tentatively brought an end to two years of war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Hamas, which has controlled Gaza for nearly two decades, has not yet publicly agreed to or signed anything that specifies how it will disarm, though Trump suggested Tuesday that he had received verbal assurances the group would.

“Everyone says, ‘Oh, well, they won’t disarm.’ They will disarm,” Trump said Tuesday at a White House event with Argentine President Javier Milei. “And 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. They will disarm or we will disarm them. Got it?”

Trump declined to provide specifics on how the United States would do that and, when asked about a deadline, said that it would be “a reasonable period of time.”

“I don’t have to explain that to you, but if they don’t disarm, we will disarm them. They know I’m not playing games,” he said.

Later, Trump went on a tangent that suggested he believed Hamas could not yet disarm because the group needed to “take out a couple of gangs that were very bad.”

“We have told them we want [them to] disarm and they will disarm. And if they don’t disarm, we will disarm them. And it’ll happen quickly and perhaps violently, but they will disarm. Do you understand me?” Trump said.

Trump’s warning indicates one of several minefields to navigate as Israel and Hamas move on to the second phase of negotiations over the ceasefire agreement. Hamas returned all 20 surviving hostages Monday, more than two years after they were kidnapped, as part of the ceasefire deal’s first phase.

At various points over the past two years, Hamas has said that it was ready to relinquish political control over Gaza but that giving up its weapons would be a red line. This time, Hamas has publicly agreed to Trump’s 20-point peace plan, two points of which are related to disarmament.

One point dictates that Hamas members who “commit to peaceful coexistence and to decommission their weapons” will be given amnesty after all the hostages are returned. Another point states that all of Hamas’s military infrastructure, “including tunnels and weapons production facilities,” will be destroyed.

“There will be a process of demilitarization of Gaza under the supervision of independent monitors, which will include placing weapons permanently beyond use through an agreed process of decommissioning, and supported by an internationally funded buy back and reintegration program all verified by the independent monitors,” the plan states.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters Friday that his country is “encircling Hamas from all directions” ahead of the plan “in which Hamas will be disarmed and Gaza will be demilitarized.”

“If this is achieved in the easy way, it’s all for the better. And if not, it will be achieved the hard way,” Netanyahu said.

Already, Israeli officials have accused Hamas of breaching the terms of the agreement. The bodies of 28 deceased hostages were also due to be released under the agreement, but Hamas returned four bodies Monday and four Tuesday. The bodies transferred Tuesday have not yet been forensically identified. During negotiations, Hamas had warned that it would not be able to recover all the remains by the 72-hour deadline.

Israel’s defense minister said Hamas was failing to meet its commitments. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents many hostages’ relatives, called it a “blatant breach” of the agreement.

Israel’s defense establishment recommended Tuesday that the government keep the Rafah border crossing with Egypt closed and not fully transfer aid into Gaza until the hostages’ remains are returned, according to a person familiar with the details who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

On Tuesday, Trump accused Hamas of having “misrepresented” the number of dead hostages whose bodies it would be able to return.

“We were told they had 26, 24 of the dead hostages … and it seems as though they don’t have that, because we’re talking about a much lesser number,” Trump said.