Trump says Hamas ‘promised’ to disarm but ‘no hard timeline’ for when

US President Donald Trump reiterates that Hamas “promised” it would disarm but says there is no “hard” timeline for when that will happen.

“They promised they would,” Trump tells Fox News when pressed on the issue during an interview conducted on Friday, which is being aired in full today.

Trump is asked about Hamas’s executions of rival militia members in Gaza. “Hamas] said they were gang members… But these are very violent people. This is a very violent part of the world. Nobody’s seen violence like this,” he says.

As for the timeline he is giving Hamas to disarm, Trump says, “It’s not a hard timeline, but it’s a line in my own mind. At a certain point, if they don’t do what they’re supposed to do, then we’ll have to do it for [them].”

He again suggests that the US will be the one to go into Gaza to disarm Hamas but once more walks back the claim when pressed. “We won’t have boots on the ground,” Trump clarifies, adding that the disarming could be done by “a proxy” — Israel.

While Trump’s 20-point plan does envision Hamas disarming, the actual ceasefire agreement signed by Israel and Hamas in Egypt earlier this month only focused on the initial IDF withdrawal, the hostage-prisoner swap, and humanitarian aid provisions.

Apparently referring to his widely repudiated February proposal to take over Gaza and permanently relocate its Palestinian population, Trump says he initially wanted Egypt and Jordan, which “have a lot of land… right next door,” to host the refugee population.

But his 20-point plan abandons that idea and encourages Gazans to remain in the Strip.

“The whole thing is all rubble, so it’s not too hard to top that, and we’d build houses… paid for by the wealthiest countries” in the region, Trump says.

Trump hails Arab leaders who have backed his Gaza plan, but reserves particular accolades for Qatar, one of the four mediating countries.

He calls Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani a “fantastic man,” noting that “he’s in the middle of a very tough little area because he’s sort of surrounded by every little problem. He has to play it close to the vest a little bit.

“Qatar is the one that’s most vulnerable because it [is] right next to Iran. But they had great courage,” Trump says.

Asked whether he had to lean on Qatar to pressure Hamas to accept his ceasefire deal, Trump says, “I didn’t have to make too much of a case because they are very smart people.”