A day after ceasefire was violated in Gaza, US President Donald Trump on Sunday issued a stark warning to Hamas saying it would be eradicated if the group hampered with the truce achieved in the region. Speaking from the Oval Office about the recent events in the Middle East, Trump stressed that the militant group must “be good” and “behave” to avoid serious consequences.
‘They will be eradicated’: Trump warns Hamas
“We have peace in the Middle East for the first time ever. We made a deal with Hamas that, they gonna be very good. They’re going to behave, they’re going to be nice, and if they’re not, we’re going to eradicate them if we have to. They’ll be eradicated, and they know that,” Trump said.
He also blamed Hamas for previous acts of violence and said the group now has less support from outside, especially from Iran.
“They went in and killed a lot of people. They’re violent people. Hamas has been very violent. But they don’t have the backing of Iran anymore. They don’t have the backing of really anybody anymore. They have to be good, and if they’re not good, they’ll be eradicated,” Trump added.
The US President also said that there would be ‘no involvement of US forces’ to resolve this issue, but added “Israel would go in two minutes if I asked them. I could tell them, ‘Go in and take care of it.’ But right now, we haven’t said that. We’re going to give it a little chance.”
Trump made the comments during a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the Oval Office, where the two leaders signed a multi-billion-dollar agreement on critical minerals and defense cooperation.
Fear of violating peace in Gaza looms
Earlier on Sunday, Israel said it had announced a “renewed enforcement” of the ceasefire in Gaza after carrying out a series of air strikes. These strikes were reportedly in response to attacks on Israeli forces by Hamas.
Following this, top White House officials, including US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, according to the Times of Israel. Meanwhile, US Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, are scheduled to visit Israel on Tuesday.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) on Sunday posted on X that it will continue to uphold the ceasefire agreement and will respond firmly to any violation of it.
The IDF said it carried out air strikes targeting dozens of Hamas-linked locations across Gaza. These included weapons storage sites, firing positions, terrorist cells, and nearly six kilometres of underground tunnels that were allegedly used for planning attacks against Israel.
The strikes came after Hamas militants in the Rafah area of southern Gaza reportedly escalated violence, with the IDF claiming that anti-tank missiles and gunfire were directed at their troops who were working to dismantle terror infrastructure under the ceasefire terms.
As of Sunday, the Gaza Media Office reported that 97 people had been killed and 230 others injured since the ceasefire began on October 10. In a statement on Telegram, the office accused the Israeli military of committing 80 violations since that date, calling them “blatant and clear breaches” of both the ceasefire and international humanitarian law.
