Trump warns Hamas of 'extinction' if Gaza truce fails, says US forces won't be directly involved

US President Donald Trump said on Monday (20 October) he would give Hamas an opportunity to comply with the Gaza ceasefire deal with Israel, but issued a stark warning that the group would be “wiped out” if it did not comply. Speaking to reporters while hosting Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the White House, Trump said: “We made a deal with Hamas that they’re going to be very good, they’re going to behave, they’re going to be nice. And if they’re not, we’re going to go and we’re going to exterminate them, if we have to. They’ll be exterminated, and they’ll be exterminated.” US forces not involved Trump emphasized that US forces will not engage directly against Hamas. He said that dozens of other countries, which have agreed to join an international stabilization force for Gaza, “would be eager to go in.” “In addition, you have Israel would go in in two minutes, if I ask them to go in. But right now we haven’t said that. We’re going to give it a little bit of a chance, and hopefully there will be a little bit less violence. But right now, you know, they’re violent people,” Trump declared. US mediation efforts Trump’s comments came as two of his top emissaries, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after violence over the weekend threatened to derail the fragile truce the US president helped broker nearly two weeks ago. And US Vice President JD Vance will visit on Tuesday. Israel resumes enforcement of ceasefire after violence. Israel announced on Sunday that it had begun “renewed enforcement of the ceasefire” with Hamas in Gaza after heavy weekend fighting, and warned that it would “respond firmly to any violation”. The renewed violence followed an ambush in southern Gaza that killed two Israeli soldiers. Israeli strikes targeted Hamas weapons storage facilities and demolished several kilometers of underground tunnels. Some humanitarian aid has resumed, although the critical Rafah border crossing remains closed. Next steps in the US-brokered plan Under Trump’s internationally-backed plan, Hamas is expected to disarm the remaining government and hand it over to a foreign-supervised Palestinian administration. While the first phase involved the release of hostages and the start of the IDF withdrawal, Hamas only returned the remains of 12 dead prisoners, with Israel accusing the group of delays. Humanitarian and military situation Israeli troops have redeployed along a “yellow line”, leaving more than half of Gaza under Israeli control, allowing some Palestinian civilians to return to safer areas such as Gaza City and Khan Younis. The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that 44 people were killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip over the weekend. Palestinians launched anti-tank attacks on Israeli troops in Rafah, injuring two soldiers next to the two killed.