Donald Trump has condoned public executions carried out by Hamas in Gaza in the wake of the ceasefire deal with Israel, appearing to compare the killings of alleged criminals with recent U.S. strikes on Venezuelan “drug boats”.
Hamas has tried to regain control of Gaza’s streets and accused some Palestinians within the enclave of being “collaborators” with Israel, but the ongoing instability is one of several factors threatening the fragile ceasefire.
In remarks to reporters in Washington, D.C., following his brief trip to the Middle East earlier this week, Trump spoke about the armed clashes following the withdrawal of Israeli troops.
“They killed a number of gang members,” Trump said. “And that didn’t bother me much to be honest with you. That’s ok, it’s a couple of very bad gangs. You know it’s no different than other countries – like Venezuela sent their gangs into us and we took care of those gangs.”
Trump has previously suggested that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua had been operating brazenly across the U.S. The president then went on to discuss the recent gang crime crackdown in Washington D.C.
“It was one of the worst cities in the country if you go back just a little while ago, right. Now it’s safe. You can walk to work. Isn’t that nice?” he said.
Also on Tuesday, Trump celebrated another deadly strike on a boat said to be full of “narcoterrorists” that had been carried out in the Caribbean. It is the fifth such strike since September, as the U.S. ramps up its military presence in the region.
Asked last month about the possibility of striking the Venezuelan mainland directly and whether he is concerned about escalating tensions with President Nicolás Maduro, Trump told journalists: “We’ll see what happens.”
Tuesday’s conversation with the media about Hamas, the terms of the ceasefire, and what it means for peace in the region, focused on U.S. demands for the group to disarm. However, Trump refused to explain how this would happen, beyond saying that if it didn’t happen voluntarily, then the U.S. would ensure it occurs, “quickly, and perhaps violently”.
Trump told reporters: “They will disarm. If they don’t disarm, we will disarm them.”
Asked ‘how will you do that’, Trump responded: “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 went on: “We have told them we want them to disarm. And if they don’t disarm, then we will disarm them. And it will happen quickly, and perhaps violently.
“And I spoke to Hamas, and 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?”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said the war will not end until Hamas has been dismantled, and Trump’s ceasefire plan calls for Hamas to disarm and hand power over to an internationally supervised body that has yet to be formed.
