‘Not part of peace deal’ — Trump threatens military action against Hamas after Gaza violence reports

US President Donald Trump has issued a threat to Hamas to stop “killing people” in Gaza, warning that it was not part of the peace deal.

On Tuesday, Trump said he approved Hamas to execute several dozen Palestinians from rival gangs while policing Gaza.

“They do want to stop the problems, and they’ve been open about it, and we gave them approval for a period of time,” the US president was quoted as responding to a journalist’s question about reports that Hamas was shooting rivals and instituting itself as a police force.

On Wednesday, the commander of US forces in the Middle East called on Hamas to immediately stop attacks on “innocent Palestinian civilians”.

But it appeared Hamas did not heed the call, following which the US president issued a threat to kill members of the group.

“If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them,” Trump threatened in a Truth Social post on Thursday.

The warning comes as tensions between Israel and Hamas grow over the release of deceased hostages, which is part of the ceasefire deal in progress.

Earlier, Gaza’s media office confirmed receipt of the bodies of 120 Palestinians held in Israeli detention.

The bodies, which have yet to be formally identified, showed “conclusive evidence of field executions and brutal torture,” the office said.

According to the media office, the bodies showed signs of hanging and rope marks on the necks of several bodies; direct gunfire at close range; hands and feet being bound with plastic restraints; eyes being blindfolded; being crushed under Israeli tank tracks; and fractures, burns and deep wounds, indicating “severe physical torture”.

Israel has released at least 29 hostages—nine of whom were deceased.

Hamas abducted 251 people when it launched an attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Israel has recovered at least 168 hostages alive over the course of the two-year war.

But the Jewish nation has insisted that Hamas return all the dead captives.

Hamas had 72 hours to hand over all hostages to Israel – alive and deceased – under the Trump ceasefire deal. That period expired on Monday, October 13.