Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he’s hopeful for a peaceful next phase in the deal between Israel and Hamas, but noted President Trump’s conditions are “very clear:” Hamas must give up its arms and demilitarize, or “all hell breaks loose.”
“We agreed to give peace a chance,” Netanyahu said Tuesday, a day after Mr. Trump made a brief visit to Tel Aviv to mark the first phase of his 20-point peace plan for Gaza, declaring “the war is over.”
Now that the living hostages have been returned, Netanyahu said demilitarization and disarmament must come next.
“First, Hamas has to give up its arms,” Netanyahu said in an exclusive interview in Tel Aviv with “CBS Mornings” co-host Tony Dokoupil. “And second, you want to make sure that there are no weapons factories inside Gaza. There’s no smuggling of weapons into Gaza. That’s demilitarization.”
Hamas has rejected giving up arms. Mr. Trump warned Tuesday that if Hamas does not disarm, “we will disarm them.”
“And it’ll happen quickly and perhaps violently,” he said. “But they will disarm.”
Netanyahu said he heard Mr. Trump’s remarks, paraphrasing them as “all hell breaks loose.”
“Well, I hope it doesn’t,” Netanyahu said. “I hope we can do this peacefully. We’re certainly ready to do so.”
The deal, brokered by the Trump administration, secured the release of all 20 remaining living Israeli hostages in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held by Israel.
Hamas also returned the remains of four deceased Israeli hostages Monday, and four more were handed over Tuesday, leaving 20 yet to be returned. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group representing the hostage families, called for the peace plan to be suspended “until every deceased individual is returned.” Mr. Trump said Monday not all of the bodies have been found and recovered.
The exchange was a crucial step in the agreement to bring an end to the two-year war in Gaza and lasting peace to the region marred by decades of conflict.
The plan also called for Israel to withdraw from parts of the Gaza Strip and stated that “full aid will be immediately sent” to Gaza, where Palestinians have faced famine. The plan also encompasses but does not entirely resolve more sensitive issues, including Gaza’s postwar governance, Palestinian statehood and Hamas’ disarmament.
For those who doubt that he wants peace, Netanyahu said to look at the Abraham Accords, in which Israel normalized relations with four Arab League nations.
“We have an opportunity to broaden that peace,” he said, adding that it would be “the greatest gift we can bring the people of Israel, the people of the region and the people of the world.”
Watch more of Dokoupil’s exclusive interview with Netanyahu Wednesday on “CBS Mornings.”
