“Hamas has to disarm.” That has been the main message conveyed by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the bilateral meeting held at the Mar-a-Lago mansion in Palm Beach (Florida).
The American president assured in the press conference after the meeting that he and Netanyahu “agree on practically everything.” For his part, the Israeli Prime Minister described the meeting as “very good and very productive.”
“There is finally peace in the Middle East and we are going to try to maintain it,” said Trump, who announced that “Hamas is going to be given a short period of time to disarm,” although without giving any specific deadline.
When asked what would happen if Hamas did not abandon its weapons, the American president warned that if they do not comply “they will have to pay”, a scenario that he defined as “terrible” for the interests of Hamas.
“If they don’t do it it would be terrible for them. Nobody wants that to happen, but they have reached an agreement and they have to comply with it,” said the US president in reference to the disarmament of Hamas.
Regarding whether he is concerned that Israel could fail to comply with the peace plan for Gaza, Trump has assured that “I am not concerned at all about what Israel does, I am concerned about what others do not do. They have complied 100%.”
