By Olatunbosun Obafemi
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday issued a stark warning to Hamas, threatening to “go in and kill” the group if it continues killing civilians in Gaza, despite the recent ceasefire agreement with Israel.
The president’s remarks, made in a post on his Truth Social platform, appeared to reference reports of fresh executions of Palestinians in the enclave following a U.S.-brokered truce. “If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the Deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them,” Trump declared.
Although he did not specify who he meant by “we,” Trump indicated earlier in the week that the U.S. military would not be directly involved in Gaza operations. “We won’t need the U.S. military,” he said on Wednesday.
Trump’s comments mark a sharp escalation from his earlier tone. Just days before, he had downplayed the significance of the reported shootings, describing them as “killings of gang members.” “That didn’t bother me much, to be honest with you,” he said during a White House cabinet meeting on Tuesday. “It’s a couple of very bad gangs. It’s very different than other countries.”
The president’s remarks came amid mounting tension in Gaza following Israel’s partial troop withdrawal under the U.S.-backed 20-point ceasefire plan. Since then, Hamas has been consolidating power in devastated areas, reportedly carrying out summary executions of alleged collaborators and enforcing its authority through street-level crackdowns.
U.S. military officials have voiced growing concern about the violence. Admiral Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command in the Middle East, on Wednesday demanded that Hamas halt the shootings and respect the terms of Trump’s peace framework.
During his recent trip to Israel and Egypt to mark the truce, Trump struck a more optimistic note, saying Hamas had expressed willingness to “stop the problems” in Gaza. “They have been open about it,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One. “And we gave them an approval for a period of time.”
The president’s latest warning, however, signals a renewed readiness to act if the fragile ceasefire collapses – raising questions about what form any U.S. or allied intervention might take in the volatile post-war Gaza Strip.
