Hamas has to disarm for peace, says Trump

Donald Trump said he hoped to reach the next stage of the Gaza peace plan “very quickly” as he hosted Benjamin Netanyahu at Mara-Lago last night.

- Jason Burke Jerusalem David Smith Washington DC

The trip by the Israeli prime minister to Florida comes amid a new push by Washington officials to force concessions from Israel to allow progress toward the second phase of the peace plan, which envisions rebuilding Gaza as a demilitarised zone under international supervision.

Asked by reporters how soon this could be achieved, Trump replied: “Very quickly. As quickly as we can, but there has to be a disarmament, you know that ... there has to be a disarming of Hamas. Otherwise: very quickly.”

After the US president’s statement, the two leaders had a lunch meeting inside Mara-Lago with their delegations. Netanyahu was expected to tell Trump that Hamas must return the remains of the last Israeli hostage left In Gaza before the next stages of the stalled ceasefire could start, Israeli officials and analysts said.

The family of the hostage, 24-year-old Ran Gvili, joined the Israeli prime minister’s visiting entourage and will meet US officials in Washington later this week.

An Israeli official in Netanyahu’s circle told Reuters that the prime minister would demand that Hamas return the remains of all hostages in Gaza, as required under the ceasefire deal, before moving to the next stages of Trump’s plan.

Speaking to reporters, Trump falsely said “just about” every hostage was released because of him and his team, whereas “none” was released under the Joe Biden administration. In fact, Hamas released a total of 138 hostages as a result of deals that Biden’s administration helped broker, according to the Snopes factchecking site.