President Donald Trump has been blunt about what he expects from Hamas as the ceasefire and an initial peace deal with Israel move forward. He says accountability is nonnegotiable and that returning the remains of hostages and disarming are core conditions. He frames it as a test of whether the deal will hold.
On Tuesday the president insisted Hamas must quickly hand over the bodies of all deceased hostages and begin laying down arms, or face severe action. Though he declined to outline tactics, he made the bottom line clear: if Hamas refuses to disarm, “we will disarm them” by force.
At a White House event he told reporters, “Well, they’re going to disarm, and because they said they were going to disarm,” and added, “And if they don’t disarm, we will disarm them.” He followed with a pointed warning: “I don’t have to explain that to you, but if they don’t disarm, we will disarm them. They know I’m not playing games, okay,” he continued in response to a follow-up question. “And if they don’t disarm, we will disarm them, and it’ll happen quickly and perhaps violently. But they will disarm. Do you understand me?”
Trump’s visit to Egypt included a signing that launched his 20-point plan to end the Gaza conflict, a framework built around exchanges, disarmament and a new governance structure. Central to that plan is an agreement: Hamas returns living and dead hostages while Israel frees certain Palestinian detainees and returns remains. The plan aims for voluntary disarmament, but leaves open the option of enforcement.
Hamas did release 20 living Israeli hostages as part of the initial steps, a move Trump and others noted. But the group has not yet handed over all the deceased, with roughly 28 dead hostages estimated and only four bodies turned over so far. That gap is exactly what Trump highlighted as unacceptable.
There are reasons the remains might not be recovered quickly: some bodies may be buried in rubble after heavy bombing, and rescue teams face dangerous conditions. Neutral organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross have warned that locating and recovering remains can take days or even weeks. Still, the political obligation to account for the missing remains sits squarely on the group that held them.
Trump indicated he expects disarmament to occur “pretty quickly” and within “a reasonable period of time,” though he stopped short of mapping the exact steps. His public posture is that patience has limits and compliance will be enforced. That firmness plays directly to his message of decisive leadership.
On the matter of the missing bodies he suggested Hamas may have “misrepresented” how many deceased hostages it actually held and was emphatic in demanding their return: “I want them back. That’s what they said. I want them back.” Those words underscore the focus on accountability for families who still mourn.
He also took to social media to celebrate the living hostages’ return, writing, “ALL TWENTY HOSTAGES ARE BACK AND FEELING AS GOOD AS CAN BE EXPECTED.” He followed with a stark call to action: “A big burden has been lifted, but the job IS NOT DONE. THE DEAD HAVE NOT BEEN RETURNED, AS PROMISED! Phase Two begins right NOW!!!”
