Trump says Hamas ‘cannot stay’ in Gaza

ANKARA

US President Donald Trump said Israel must decide on its next step but argued that Hamas “can’t stay” in Gaza.

Speaking to the news outlet Axios by phone about Israel’s attacks on Gaza, Trump stopped short of explicitly stating that he would support Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to occupy Gaza. However, he said he did not believe Hamas would release the hostages under the current circumstances.

Trump said Israel has to decide what to do next and also whether to allow Hamas to remain in Gaza, but, in his view, Hamas “cannot stay” there, Axios reported.

Netanyahu claimed Sunday that his army will occupy Gaza City “fairly quickly,” adding that he wants a “civil administration” in the Palestinian enclave.

“We've done a great deal. We have about 70 to 75% of Gaza under Israeli control, but we have two remaining strongholds,” he said, hinting at Gaza City and the central camps in the Al-Mawasi in southern Gaza.

On Friday, Israel’s Security Cabinet approved Netanyahu’s plan to occupy Gaza City fully, drawing sharp international backlash from governments and human rights bodies.

The Israeli premier claimed that his plan aims to disarm Hamas, free all Israeli hostages, demilitarize Gaza, override Israeli security control, and establish a non-Israeli civil administration.

He said the plan includes the creation of a buffer zone on Gaza’s border with Israel, and “a non-Israeli civilian administration” to run the enclave.

Netanyahu claimed that the planned administration will be run by third parties, “not Hamas or the Palestinian Authority,” without giving further details.

Israel has kept all Gaza crossings closed since March 2, blocking aid convoys despite hundreds of trucks waiting at the border. Only small amounts have been allowed in, far below the level needed to avert famine.

The World Food Program says one-third of Gaza’s population has gone several days without eating, calling the situation “unprecedented” in its levels of hunger and desperation. The UN estimates that hundreds of aid trucks must enter daily to end the famine caused by the blockade and war.

Israel has been facing mounting outrage over its deadly war on Gaza, where more than 61,400 people have been killed since October 2023.

Last month, Israeli rights groups B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, citing the systematic destruction of Palestinian society and the deliberate dismantling of the territory’s health care system.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.