Washington. US President Donald Trump, the architect of the ceasefire implemented between the terrorist organization Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip, said that Hamas will have to give up its weapons at any cost. He assured that American troops will not be needed to disarm Hamas.
According to an ABC News report, Trump reiterated on Wednesday, “We want Hamas to give up its weapons. Hamas has agreed to do so. Now Hamas will have to do so. If it does not do so, we will force it to do so.” He said with full determination that the US military would not need to get involved.
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump had said that disarmament of the militant group is a key part of the Gaza peace proposal. This was not emphasized in the first phase of the ceasefire agreement. Meanwhile, two American officials said that the American-led coordination center (command center) in Israel will start functioning in the coming days. It will monitor the implementation of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza. The command center will initially be headed by an American three-star general. The commander will also have a foreign deputy, officials said. He will be equivalent to a two-star officer.
Meanwhile, senior Israeli officials have accused Hamas of obstructing the implementation of the peace agreement. Responding to Israeli officials’ comments, senior US advisers said on Wednesday that the fragile peace deal ending the war in Gaza appears to be intact. He also said that Hamas was making every possible effort to return the bodies of the remaining hostages.
Senior US advisers said, “We have heard from a number of people saying that you know Hamas has violated the agreement because not all the bodies have been returned. We think we had an agreement with them that we would free all the surviving hostages, which they honored and we have a mechanism in place right now whereby we are working closely with the mediators and working with them to do our best to get as many bodies out as possible.” Advisers said they believed both sides wanted to stick to the agreement.
