President Trump Says There Is No Deadline For Hamas To Strip Weapons

US President Donald Trump. (Wikimedia Commons/The White House/Daniel Torok)

JAKARTA - United States President Donald Trump said on Sunday, "there is no time limit, no hardline" for the Palestinian militant group Hamas to strip its weapons based on a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip brokered by its country.

Speaking to Fox News, President Trump acknowledged that although the group had pledged to surrender its weapons, he stressed the nature of the volatile region and opened up the possibility of "some other parties", including Israel, backed by the US, to act on their behalf.

"They promised to do it. They said they would. Of course they will," he said, as reported by The National 20 October.

When asked if there was a specific deadline, Trump replied: "If we had to, we would strip them of weapons. Whether it's me, the US, or proxies, it could be Israel with our support, we wouldn't deploy ground troops. There's no reason for that," he said.

The comments come amid growing international concern for the next phase of the implementation of the ceasefire package and the broader peace plan introduced by the Trump Administration. The new ceasefire took effect on October 11 and halted the war for two years.

However, Israel and the Hamas Group have accused each other of violating the ceasefire since then.

President Trump said the ceasefire agreement was "respected by everyone", and had the support of Arab and Muslim countries.

Regarding the reconstruction of Gaza, President Trump referred to his planned February which was heavily criticized for taking over the region and relocating Palestinians permanently, saying he initially wanted Egypt and Jordan "who owned a lot of land right next to it", to accommodate those who were expelled from Gaza.

"It's all just debris, so it's not too difficult to deal with, and we're going to build houses financed by the richest countries" in the region, he said.

He outlined the vision to turn war-torn enclaves into "places of freedom" in the future.

President Trump added that a "peace council" was being formed to oversee regional reconstruction and stability and that he had been asked to lead it.

"The peace in the Middle East is a big thing. I've heard that term in my entire life. Peace in the Middle East, for 3,000 years it hasn't happened yet," he said.

When asked if he should rely on Qatar to pressure Hamas into accepting his ceasefire deal, President Trump said: "I don't need to argue too much because they are very intelligent people."