US President Donald Trump threatened Hamas with reprisals if the group continued killings inside of Gaza, saying that such action violated the ceasefire agreement he helped broker with Israel.
“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 posted Thursday on social media. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
The president's remarks open the door for direct US military action in Gaza, and appeared to mark an escalation from previous statements from the administration warning that the US would back renewed Israeli strikes if the terms of the deal were violated.
US Vice President JD Vance said Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press that “we're not planning to put boots on the ground” in Gaza and that 200 US troops were being placed in Israel to simply “monitor the terms of the ceasefire.”
The developments pointed to the fragile nature of the truce between Israel and Hamas, which Trump traveled to the Middle East to celebrate just three days ago.
Violence continue to simmer in pockets of Gaza, as Hamas gunmen battled rival Palestinian factions. On Sunday, video circulated on social media of a public execution of six men the group had accused of espionage and insurrection.
Trump's warning came hours after Hamas said it could not produce the bodies of additional hostages without special machinery. Israel has accused the group of not trying hard enough, saying that the remains of at least a dozen more people should be turned over under the ceasefire agreement.
Earlier Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy, Steve Witkoff, were “actively working” on issues around implementing the deal.
“They are continuing to discuss this with both sides to ensure that all of the bodies are found and returned,” Leavitt told Fox News.
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