President Donald Trump said Monday he could ask Israel to return to areas of Gaza vacated under the recent ceasefire and “eradicate Hamas” if necessary but is holding off to give the fragile truce a chance to hold.

“We made a deal with Hamas that they’re going to be very good, they’re going to behave, they’re going to be nice, and if not, we’re going to eradicate them if we have to,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

He reiterated that he does not believe Hamas’s leadership authorized Sunday’s deadly attack on Israeli troops in Gaza. “I don’t believe it was the leadership, but they have some rebellion in there among themselves,” Trump said, referencing internal executions by Hamas against rival factions.

Calling Hamas “a violent group,” Trump warned, “If they keep doing it, then we’re going to straighten it out, and it’ll happen very quickly and pretty violently.”

Trump added that several countries had privately offered to intervene in Gaza, claiming, “Israel would go in in two minutes if I asked them. But right now, we haven’t said that. We’re going to give it a little chance.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)