Hamas will have ‘hell to pay’ if it fails to disarm, Trump warns after Netanyahu meeting | Benjamin Netanyahu

Donald Trump has warned that Hamas will have “hell to pay” if it fails to disarm, while offering full support to Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting with the Israeli prime minister in Florida.

In a bravura display of mutual admiration, Netanyahu announced that the US president would receive the Israel Prize, the country’s highest civilian honor, which since its inception in the 1950s has never been awarded to a non-Israeli person.

Netanyahu’s trip to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence came amid renewed pressure from Washington officials to force Israel to make concessions to allow progress toward the second phase of the Gaza peace plan, which in October ended a devastating two-year war.

Asked if he and Netanyahu had discussed withdrawing Israeli troops before Hamas fully disarmed, Trump told reporters: “If they don’t disarm like they’ve agreed to do – they’ve agreed to – then there’s going to be hell to pay for them and we don’t want that, we’re not looking for that. But they have to disarm in pretty short order.”»

He described the issue of Israel’s withdrawal of its forces as “a separate topic,” adding only: “We will talk about it.”

Last week, US newspaper Axios reported that the Trump administration wanted to announce the formation of a technocratic Palestinian government for Gaza and the ISF as soon as possible and that senior Trump officials were growing increasingly exasperated “as Netanyahu has taken steps to undermine the fragile ceasefire and block the peace process.”

But Trump himself seemed to show no qualms after Monday’s meeting. He said he was “not concerned about anything Israel is doing” and that “Israel has stuck to its plan 100%.”

He repeatedly pointed the finger at Hamas, saying “it would be horrible for them” if they failed to disarm. “It’s going to be really, really bad for them, and I don’t want that to happen. But they made a deal that they were going to disarm. And you can’t blame Israel,” he said.

Hamas retains large quantities of light weapons, but only a fraction of the heavy weapons that enabled its surprise attack in southern Israel in 2023, in which 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 250 kidnapped.

More than 70,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed in the ensuing Israeli offensive and large swathes of Gaza were reduced to rubble. Around 400 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the October ceasefire.

In recent weeks, Hamas has managed to establish its authority over the parts of Gaza it controls with a series of executions, raids and beatings targeting rival rulers, Israeli collaborators and criminal gangs. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are now believed to live in the Hamas-controlled area.

The Islamist militant organization has proposed solutions to allow storage of some of its weapons but has refused to accept complete disarmament.

Trump claimed that other countries that supported the peace deal would “go in and take out Hamas” if he didn’t hold up his end of the bargain.

Trump and Netanyahu earlier held a lunch meeting at Mar-a-Lago with their delegations. Netanyahu was expected to tell Trump that Hamas must return the remains of the last remaining Israeli hostage in Gaza before the next steps in the stalled ceasefire can be implemented, Israeli officials and analysts said.

Speaking to reporters before the meeting, Trump falsely stated that “pretty much” all the hostages were freed thanks to him and his team, while “none” were released during the Joe Biden administration. In fact, Hamas has released a total of 138 hostages following deals that the Biden administration helped broker, according to the fact-checking site Snopes.

The family of the last person whose remains have not been returned, Ran Gvili, has joined the Israeli prime minister’s entourage and will meet with officials in Washington later this week.

An Israeli official close to Netanyahu told Reuters the prime minister would demand that Hamas return the remains of all hostages in Gaza, as required by the ceasefire agreement, before moving forward with the next steps in Trump’s plan.

A second phase of the peace plan provides for the deployment of an interim authority composed of non-aligned Palestinian technocrats to govern the Palestinian territory, as well as the deployment of an international stabilization force (ISF) composed of thousands of soldiers. Israel is very concerned about both aspects.

Gvili, a 24-year-old police officer, was seriously injured and then kidnapped during the Hamas raid in Israel in October 2023 that sparked the conflict. It is unclear whether he died from his injuries during the raid or in Gaza. Hundreds of people gathered Saturday evening in Tel Aviv to demand that Israel make no concessions to advance the ceasefire agreement until his remains are returned.

Lianne Pollak-David, a former Israeli military intelligence officer and peace negotiator in the prime minister’s office, said the failure to return Gvili’s remains was a serious problem. “Netanyahu and the Israelis as a people are simply not going to accept this,” she said.

Hamas has freed 20 live hostages and returned the bodies of 27 dead hostages since October, and some observers see the insistence on the return of Gvili’s remains as a delaying tactic to allow Israeli military forces to remain in the 53 percent of Gaza they currently control.

Daniel Levy, a UK-based analyst and former Israeli peace negotiator, said Netanyahu had no intention of further withdrawing from Gaza or authorizing an international force that could deter Israeli military action.

“He feels he still has a number of cards to play and Gvili’s remains are the easiest to play right now, but there are others,” Levy said.

For Netanyahu, who faces an election within 10 months, the prospect of Iran repairing the damage inflicted on its nuclear program during its short war with Israel and the United States this summer and boosting its ballistic missile capabilities is another priority.

Trump previously insisted that Iran’s nuclear capabilities were “completely destroyed.” But on Monday he said: “I hope they don’t try to pile up again, because if they do, we’ll have no choice but to eradicate that buildup very quickly.” »

The president added: “Iran may be behaving badly. It hasn’t been confirmed. But if it’s confirmed, look, they know the consequences will be very powerful, maybe more powerful than last time.” Pressed for evidence, he said: “That’s exactly what we hear, but usually where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”»

The Israeli prime minister may be hoping for a political boost from his latest meeting with Trump, whom he once again hailed as Israel’s greatest friend. Netanyahu said: “We have decided to break a convention – or create a new one – and that is to award the Israel Prize, which we have never given in almost 80 years to a non-Israeli, and we are going to award it this year to President Trump. … for his immense contributions to Israel and the Jewish people.”

It is a second consolation prize for Trump, who did not receive the Nobel Peace Prize this year but was awarded the Fifa Peace Prize – dismissed by critics as a cynical ploy by world soccer’s governing body to curry favor.

As if to return the compliment, Trump claimed to have spoken to Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who told him that a pardon for Netanyahu in his long-running corruption trial was “on the way.” Trump said: “He’s a wartime prime minister who is a hero. How can you not pardon him?”

Asked about Trump’s remarks, Herzog’s office said the Israeli president had not had any conversations with Trump since a pardon request was submitted several weeks ago, Reuters reported.