The president also threatened there would be 'hell to pay' if Hamas doesn't disarm within a certain amount of time

by Dave DeCamp | December 29, 2025 at 6:17 pm ET | Gaza, Israel

During a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida on Monday, President Trump claimed Israel was holding up its end of the Gaza ceasefire deal “100%” despite constant IDF attacks on Palestinians in the Strip and other Israeli violations.

Since the deal went into effect on October 10, the Israeli military has killed at least 414 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The IDF has continued demolitions and has expanded the so-called “yellow line,” the vague boundary that separates the IDF-occupied side of Gaza and the Hamas-controlled side. Israel has also maintained restrictions on aid and shelter materials entering Gaza.

When asked by a reporter at Mar-a-Lago if he was concerned that Israel wasn’t moving quickly enough into “phase two” of the plan, Trump said he was “not concerned about anything Israel is doing” and that Israel has “lived up to the plan 100%.”

A yellow concrete cube marking the Yellow line sits near damaged buildings in the Gaza Strip, as seen from Israel’s border with Gaza, Israel, December 29, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Trump also appeared to issue an ultimatum to Hamas during the press conference, saying that if the group doesn’t disarm within a certain amount of time, there will be “hell to pay” and that it will be “horrible for them.”

The president said that Hamas has already agreed to disarm, but the group has been consistent in its position that it won’t give up its weapons unless a Palestinian state is established, or if progress is made in that direction. Trump’s 20-point peace plan said that Gaza would be “demilitarized,” but Hamas only agreed to use the plan as a basis for negotiations.

So far, the only deal Israel and Hamas have signed outlined a ceasefire and the exchange of Israeli captives and Palestinians held in Israeli jails. “Our people are defending themselves and will not give up their weapons as long as the occupation remains,” the new spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, said on Monday.

Trump also claimed during the press conference that the US and Israel are helping the “people of Gaza” even though both countries are not allowing reconstruction to take place, as civilians are living in flimsy tents and the rubble of bombed-out buildings amid harsh winter storms. In recent weeks, at least 20 people in Gaza have died due to the weather.

Netanyahu’s visit to Mar-a-Lago marked his fifth meeting with President Trump in the US this year. The two leaders praised each other, and Netanyahu announced during the press conference that Trump would receive the “Israel Prize,” an award presented by the State of Israel.

https://news.antiwar.com/2025/12/29/trump-claims-israel-is-complying-with-gaza-deal-100-despite-constant-idf-ceasefire-violations/

Sociocide! Israeli policy of dismantling Palestinian society: land/water seizure, de-development, elite elimination & mass imprisonment

https://x.com/MaryKostakidis/status/2006143498811302079

Mary Kostakidis

@MaryKostakidis

**Recommended Fascinating insight from Saleh Abdel Jawad, former Dean of the Faculty of Law & Public Administration, & Professor of History & Political Science at Birzeit University in the West Bank, with his and his family’s first hand experience. He also mentions the work of Harvard scholar Sara Roy, & provides a framework through which scholars have understood the history of this conflict - Israel‘s strategies become very clear. Given the life of sorrow for generations, the resilience of the Palestinian people and their determination is remarkable.

Quote

Insights In Focus

@InsightsInFocus

14h

Sociocide! Israeli policy of dismantling Palestinian society: land/water seizure, de-development, elite elimination & mass imprisonment—1 in 4 Palestinians in West Bank/Gaza imprisoned over decades (1M+ since 1967) Watch in full here