Trump warns that Hamas must disarm ‘or we will disarm them’, perhaps violently
Donald Trump has warned that Hamas must disarm or “we will disarm them”, after he earlier declared that phase two of his ceasefire agreement for Gaza “begins right now”.
“They said they were going to disarm, and if they don’t disarm, we will disarm them,” the US president told reporters during a meeting with his Argentinian counterpart, Javier Milei, at the White House.
Asked how he would do that, Trump said: “I don’t have explain that to you, but if they don’t disarm, we will disarm them. They know I’m not playing games.”
Trump added that could happen “quickly and perhaps violently”.
Pressed on a timeline for disarmament, Trump said only that it would be “a reasonable period of time … pretty quickly”.
Trump also said he had received word from Hamas after speaking to the group that it would disarm, talks that he said were “through my people” at the highest level.
Hamas’s disarmament is a central tenement for phase two of Trump’s 20-point plan, and the militant group has previously rejected the idea outright. On Saturday, a senior official told AFP that disarmament was “out of the question”, adding: “The demand that we hand over our weapons is not up for negotiation.”
Key events
Gaza hospital receives the first 45 bodies of Palestinians detained by Israel
Earlier today, the Associated Press reported that Gaza’s Nasser hospital had said it had received the first 45 bodies of Palestinians who had been detained by the Israeli military since October 7, 2023.
The bodies were handed over by the international committee of the Red Cross as part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement. A total of 450 bodies were to be returned to Gaza from Israel, the hospital said.
The hospital said some of the bodies showed signs of torture and having their hands bound. It was not immediately clear when or how they died.
On Monday, the last 20 living hostages were released to Israel in exchange for 1,808 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Hamas has so far returned the bodies of four of the remaining deceased hostages under the deal, and the Red Cross is currently on its way to Gaza to receive the remains of several more.
Palestinians who were freed in past exchanges have reported frequent beatings, insufficient food and deprivation of medical care in Israeli prisons. A 2024 UN report said that since October 7, 2023, thousands of Palestinian people have been held arbitrarily and incommunicado by Israel, often shackled, blindfolded, deprived of food, water, sleep and medical care and subjected to torture or degrading treatment.
Israel maintains that it follows international and domestic legal standards for the treatment of prisoners and that any violations by prison personnel are investigated. Far-right Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is in charge of prisons, has repeatedly boasted of making prison conditions for Palestinian people as harsh as possible while meeting the letter of the law.
Trump warns that Hamas must disarm ‘or we will disarm them’, perhaps violently
Donald Trump has warned that Hamas must disarm or “we will disarm them”, after he earlier declared that phase two of his ceasefire agreement for Gaza “begins right now”.
“They said they were going to disarm, and if they don’t disarm, we will disarm them,” the US president told reporters during a meeting with his Argentinian counterpart, Javier Milei, at the White House.
Asked how he would do that, Trump said: “I don’t have explain that to you, but if they don’t disarm, we will disarm them. They know I’m not playing games.”
Trump added that could happen “quickly and perhaps violently”.
Pressed on a timeline for disarmament, Trump said only that it would be “a reasonable period of time … pretty quickly”.
Trump also said he had received word from Hamas after speaking to the group that it would disarm, talks that he said were “through my people” at the highest level.
Hamas’s disarmament is a central tenement for phase two of Trump’s 20-point plan, and the militant group has previously rejected the idea outright. On Saturday, a senior official told AFP that disarmament was “out of the question”, adding: “The demand that we hand over our weapons is not up for negotiation.”
IDF says Red Cross on its way to Gaza to receive remains of more dead hostages
The Israeli military has said the Red Cross is on its way to a meeting point in northern Gaza Strip to receive the bodies of “several” more deceased hostages. It did not disclose the number of bodies the Red Cross is set to receive. We’ll bring you more on this as we get it.
Earlier, Hamas told mediators that it would begin the transfer of four more deceased hostages this evening. So far, the bodies of four hostages have been handed over to Israel, leaving 24 still inside Gaza.
Hamas has indicated that it will take time to find some bodies under the rubble in Gaza. A spokesperson for the Red Cross has also warned locating the bodies will be a “massive challenge”.
Yousef Khalil, who found his house still standing, looks out at the destroyed district of Gaza City.
Daniel Boffey
The families of missing dead Israeli hostages have written to the US special envoy Steve Witkoff to urge him to “pull out every stop and leave no stone unturned” in forcing Hamas to bring their relatives home from Gaza.
The return of 28 dead hostages was part of the agreement that ushered in a ceasefire, but only four have so far been handed over.
Mediators understand that Hamas is having trouble locating all of the dead but the Israeli government believes the group is making insufficient effort, although Israeli media reported on Tuesday night that Hamas had told mediators that they would hand-over a further four bodies within hours.
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Israeli group confirms identities of two of four hostages returned from Gaza
An Israeli organisation campaigning for the release of hostages says one of the four bodies returned by Hamas was that of Yossi Sharabi, who was abducted during the group’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.
“The Hostages and Missing Families Forum embraces the family of Yossi Sharabi at this difficult time, following the return of their beloved Yossi to Israel yesterday for a proper burial,” the group said in a statement.
In a separate statement, the campaign group also confirmed the return of the remains of hostage Daniel Peretz to Israel, as part of a group of four deceased hostages handed over by Hamas on Monday.
The Israeli military said it had also identified the bodies of Guy Iluz, an Israeli national, and Bipin Joshi, a Nepalese agriculture student.
Earlier, Hamas released an online video that appeared to show its fighters shooting eight blindfolded, bound and kneeling men in the street, according to AFP.
The footage, published late on Monday on Hamas-run al-Aqsa TV’s Telegram channel, was shared with the caption: “The resistance carries out the death sentence against a number of collaborators and outlaws in Gaza City.”
Hamas’s armed groups have said they are conducting a campaign against criminal gangs and clans in Gaza after the ceasefire with Israeli forces.
The Guardian could not independently verify the video, and Hamas has not provided evidence to support its claim that those killed were collaborators.
Former Israeli hostage Noa Argamani has spoken about the starkly different conditions she and her partner, Avinatan Or, faced during their time in captivity in Gaza.
“Two years passed since the last moment I saw Avinatan, the love of my life,” Argamani wrote on X after the pair were reunited this week.
Argamani, who was freed in an Israeli military raid in June 2024 after 246 days in captivity, said she was held “with children, women, and the elderly, while Avinatan was held alone … I was mostly kept inside houses, while Avinatan was only in the tunnels.”
Or, abducted with her from the Nova music festival on 7 October 2023, was released on Monday as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal that ended the fighting.
Bulldozers drive past displaced people, on their way to clear building rubble from the streets in Gaza City, earlier today.
Earlier, as Donald Trump welcomed Argentina’s president Javier Milei to the White House, he was asked by a reporter if Hamas was holding up its end of the deal. The US president replied: “We’ll find out.”
