Trump Addressed Reporter on Hamas Disarmament

During a news conference on Tuesday, President Donald Trump made it clear that discussing disarmament of Hamas is “not a game.” This statement came after he met with Argentine President Javier Milei and responded to questions regarding the peace agreement recently reached.

A reporter queried him about how long it might take for Hamas to disarm in Gaza, asking if he could assure that disarmament would occur. “They’re going to disarm because they said they would. And if they don’t, we’ll disarm them,” Trump replied bluntly.

The reporter pressed for details on how that would be accomplished, to which Trump responded, “I don’t have to explain that. If necessary, we will disarm them. They know I’m not playing games.”

On Monday, Trump had changed his stance regarding the release of Israeli hostages, also expressing concern about the uncertainty surrounding the number of “dead hostages” still in the hands of Hamas.

He claimed that the organization had eliminated many “very bad gangs,” stating, “They took out some very bad gangs, and they did take them out… but to be honest, I didn’t really care about that.” He drew a parallel to his administration’s efforts to address Venezuelan gangs attempting to enter the U.S. and tackle crime in Washington, D.C.

Going back to Hamas, Trump reiterated, “If they don’t disarm, we will disarm them. And it will happen quickly and probably violently.” He wanted to ensure the reporter grasped his point, interrupting her, asking, “But they will disarm. Do I understand?”

The reporter replied affirmatively but was cut off again as Trump insisted, “Everyone says, ‘Oh, they won’t disarm.’ They will disarm.” When asked about a timeline for disarmament, he indicated it would happen “fairly quickly, within a reasonable period of time” before moving on to other questions.