1 of 3 | President Donald Trump on Thursday warned Hamas, which has been attempting to reassert its authority in Gaza, that if it did not disarm the militant group would be disarmed — though he noted it would not be by the United States. Photo by Francis Chung/UPI | License Photo
President Donald Trump issued a warning to Hamas days into a ceasefire that it needs to stop killing people, end its attempt to regain control of Gaza and turn back to disarmament as it has agreed to do.
The militant group has searched for “wanted individuals” and battled rival militarized clans since Israel and Hamas agreed to institute a Trump administration-designed plan to end the two-year war in Gaza that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
“If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Thursday, although he later clarified in remarks to reporters that he “didn’t say who would go in but somebody will go in. It’s not going to be us — we don’t have to.”
Israel and Hamas last week reached a deal to end the war in Gaza, which included Israeli military forces pulling out of Gaza, Palestinians being permitted to return to what is left of their homes, humanitarian aid starting to flow in to the country, and for Hamas to begin disarming and ending its rule in the enclave.
As Israel has pulled back, however, instead of disarming, Hamas has put out calls to gather rivals and those who have helped Israel and, in some cases, executed these people in public squares in order to reassert its power, CNN reported.
Rival clans and families in Gaza who oppose Hamas, some of whom have been armed by Israel in its years-long effort to rid the area of them, have also clashed with the group.
Tensions were are rising between Israel and Hamas over the return of hostages as Hamas said it has had trouble finding the bodies of some now-deceased Israelis who were kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas.
According to the BBC, Hamas said that some bodies were buried in the rubble of tunnels that Israel destroyed over the course of the war, which has delayed their return to Israel beyond the agreed to deadline of Monday.
The U.N. World Food Program told reporters Friday that it has enough food to feed people in Gaza for about three months and that, although nearly 600 tons of food has been moved in to the area per day since the cease-fire started, much more is still needed.
“We’re still below what we need,” Abeer Etefa, spokesperson for the program, told reporters. “The cease-fire has opened a narrow window of opportunity, and WFP is moving very quickly and swiftly to scale up food assistance.”
In a statement, Hamas thanked Egypt, Qatar and Turkey for their efforts to help broker the current Israel-Hamas agreement, asking the nations to continue implementing the peace plan by pushing to ramp up aid deliveries, to open Gaza’s Rafah crossing in both directions and begin to assist in reconstruction of Gaza.
Palestinian detainees return home
Relatives interact with Palestinian detainees that were released as part of the cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas at the Ramallah Cultural Centre in Ramallah, in the West Bank, on October 13, 2025. Photo by Ismael Ahmad/UPI | License Photo
