President Donald Trump, throughout a whirlwind 12 hours in the Middle East on Monday, celebrated a “new daybreak” for the area as the primary part of a ceasefire deal he helped dealer between Israel and Hamas acquired underway.
However as he returned to Washington, Trump confronted robust questions on what comes subsequent.
One key subject on making certain a long-lasting peace is the disarmament of Hamas, as referred to as for in Trump’s 20-point peace plan however not explicitly dealt with within the preliminary part of the settlement.
ABC Information White Home Correspondent Karen Travers requested Trump on the White Home on Tuesday how lengthy it might take Hamas to take action and if he may assure it might occur.
“Effectively, they’re going to disarm, and since they mentioned they had been going to disarm. And if they do not disarm, we’ll disarm them,” Trump mentioned.
President Donald Trump speaks throughout a gathering with President of Argentina Javier Milei within the Cupboard Room on the White Home, October 14, 2025 in Washington.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Photos
“How will you do this?” ABC’s Travers requested.
“I haven’t got to clarify that to you, but when they do not disarm, we’ll disarm them. They know I am not enjoying video games, okay. … And if they do not disarm, we’ll disarm them, and it will occur shortly and maybe violently. However they are going to disarm. Do you perceive me?” Trump mentioned.
Pressed on what the deadline is for Hamas to disarm, Trump mentioned “fairly shortly.”
“An inexpensive time period,” Trump mentioned.
Hamas gunmen on pickup vehicles escort buses carrying freed Palestinian prisoners as they’re greeted following their launch from Israeli jails below a cease-fire settlement between Hamas and Israel, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Oct. 13, 2025.
Jehad Alshrafi/AP
The president, speaking to reporters on Air Power One on his means house in a single day, mentioned his focus now was on rebuilding Gaza, which has been demolished by two years of warfare. The United Nations now says the reconstruction of the enclave may price upwards of $70 billion.
However Trump did not elaborate on a particular imaginative and prescient, as a substitute saying thornier problems with Palestinian statehood and governing of the Gaza Strip can be labored out later.
“Effectively, we’re gonna should see,” Trump mentioned on the flight. “I imply, lots of people just like the one-state resolution. Some folks just like the two-state options. We’ll should see.”
On methods to bridge that hole, the president mentioned in some unspecified time in the future he would determine “what I believe is correct” in coordination with different international locations.
President Donald Trump speaks with the press on board Air Power One in Mildenhall, Suffolk, October 14, 2025.
Saul Loeb/AFP by way of Getty Photos
Requested to remark additional on the second part of his peace plan and the standing of negotiations, Trump solely mentioned there was “numerous energy” within the group of world leaders that gathered in Egypt on Monday for talks on Gaza’s future.
“These are, you already know, actually severely wealthy international locations, and so they can deal with it,” Trump mentioned.
Trump was surrounded by leaders and representatives of greater than 20 international locations in Sharm El-Sheikh, the place he and three mediators concerned within the Israel-Hamas negotiations signed a doc backing his peace plan.
Trump touted the memorandum as “historic” however it appeared largely symbolic, because it contained no specifics on what comes subsequent apart from broad commitments from the U.S., Egypt, Turkey and Qatar to “pursue a complete imaginative and prescient of peace, safety, and shared prosperity within the area, grounded within the ideas of mutual respect and shared future.”
Not current in Egypt and never signing the doc was Israel and Hamas.
President Donald Trump waits to greet leaders throughout a summit to assist ending the greater than two-year Israel-Hamas warfare in Gaza after a breakthrough ceasefire deal, Oct. 13, 2025, in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
Evan Vucci/AP
Emotional scenes performed out in Israel and Gaza on Monday because the remaining residing 20 Israeli hostages had been reunited with their families and Palestinian prisoners were freed and returned to Gaza — a significant diplomatic accomplishment for Trump after months of tense negotiations.
Although in an indication of the fragility of the ceasefire settlement, Israel on Monday accused Hamas of a “blatant violation” when it did not instantly return all of the stays of 4 deceased hostages. The U.N. then mentioned Israeli authorities introduced it might lower in half the variety of vehicles allowed to hold support into Gaza as a response.
Requested Tuesday on the White Home if Hamas deal will maintain up its finish of the deal, President Trump responded: “We’ll discover out.”
Trump later mentioned Hamas “misrepresented” the variety of useless hostages, calling it a “very robust topic.”
“I would like them again. That is what they mentioned. I would like them again,” he mentioned of the our bodies of the deceased hostages.
