After announcing that Vice President Vance would visit Israel, President Trump reiterated his warning to Hamas, insisting the U.S.-brokered Gaza truce must hold and delivering another stern message to the terrorist group.
“We’re going to eradicate them; If we have to, they’ll be eradicated. And they know that,” Trump told reporters during a White House meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Trump also stressed the deal’s broad backing — “59 countries that agreed to the deal” — and insisted the ceasefire remains in place. But he continued to warn that any further violence would be met with a swift response.
Though details of Vance’s Israel trip remain undisclosed, U.S. diplomacy is expanding beyond Jerusalem as envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner head to Egypt for talks with Hamas, signaling a shift from maintaining the ceasefire to addressing next steps. When asked on Monday if the U.S. would deploy troops, Trump said his administration has no such plans, noting that Israel and other nations could act if necessary.
“We don’t need to, because we have many countries, as you know, signed on to this deal,” said Trump. “We’ve had countries calling me when they saw some of the killing with Hamas, saying we’d love to go in and take care of the situation ourselves. In addition, you have Israel — they would go in, in two minutes. If I asked him to go in, I could tell him, go in and take care of it. But right now, we haven’t said that. We’re going to give it a little chance, and hopefully there will be a little less violence.”
He then added a blunt warning about the capacity and support of Hamas: “But right now, you know, they’re violent people. Hamas has been very violent, but they don’t have the backing of Iran anymore… They have to be good, and if they’re not good, they’ll be eradicated — because absolutely we can, and we have the capacity to do so.”
WATCH LIVE: Vice President JD Vance departs for Israel
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The remarks came as Witkoff and Kushner met with Israeli leaders to reinforce the fragile Trump-brokered ceasefire after a weekend flare-up in which Hamas killed two Israeli soldiers, prompting retaliatory strikes. Despite renewed violence, both sides reaffirmed their commitment to the truce. Meanwhile, the IDF recovered the coffin of another deceased hostage and urged the public to await official identification. Israeli officials said Hamas could return six more bodies from Gaza, though some remains may be unrecoverable amid the devastation.
Addressing the Knesset, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the conflict was far from over and that any truce violations would bring a “very heavy price,” while emphasizing Israel’s “unprecedented closeness” and coordination with the U.S. The IDF also announced that Southern Command troops have begun setting up a “yellow line” inside Gaza—3.5-meter concrete barriers with yellow poles every 200 meters—to create tactical boundaries under the ceasefire. The markings will expand in the coming days as forces continue removing threats and protecting Israeli civilians.
