Trump Presses Hamas Disarmament in Mar-a-Lago Talks With Netanyahu
US and Israeli leaders link progress on Gaza governance to security conditions while juggling tensions with Iran, Hezbollah, Turkey, and Syria
By Steven Ganot/The Media Line
President Donald Trump used a wide-ranging meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago on Monday to press for rapid Hamas disarmament as the condition for advancing the next phase of the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire, while also warning Iran of renewed strikes, responding cautiously to questions about Hezbollah in Lebanon, and triggering fresh political controversy in Israel by claiming President Isaac Herzog was close to pardoning Netanyahu.
Standing beside Netanyahu as reporters gathered at the Florida estate, the US president framed the Gaza track as urgent but conditional. “We had about a five-minute meeting, and we’ve already settled about three of the difficulties,” President Trump said as the two leaders entered Mar-a-Lago, presenting the talks as quick progress on what US officials describe as a stalled transition to the ceasefire’s second phase. Still, he emphasized the obstacle he sees as nonnegotiable: “But there has to be a disarming of Hamas.”
The US president’s language went beyond process talk, pairing the disarmament demand with a threat. Hamas must disarm within a “very short period of time” or there would be “hell to pay for them,” he said, signaling he is prepared to back force if negotiations do not produce results. He also argued that the pressure does not rest on Israel alone, asserting that other countries are prepared to act if Hamas refuses. “There are countries—not Israel—that are willing to go in and ‘wipe out’ Hamas if it doesn’t fulfill its agreement to disarm,” he said, without naming which states he meant.
Netanyahu echoed the disarmament line while adding his own emphasis: the conditions under which the Palestinian Authority could return to Gaza in any governing role. The prime minister said President Trump had set “clear conditions” for reform before the PA could come back. “Stop ‘pay-to-slay,’ change the curriculum in your textbooks, open up a different society and a different future. If they do it, well, you know, I think it was clear. He put guidelines,” Netanyahu said.
The Mar-a-Lago session unfolded against the backdrop of an October ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that has mostly held but has repeatedly been strained by accusations of violations and disputes about sequencing. The first phase included a partial Israeli withdrawal, increased humanitarian aid, and exchanges of hostages for Palestinian detainees and prisoners. The second phase, in the US president’s stated vision, would bring the rebuilding of a demilitarized Gaza under international supervision, with day-to-day administration handled by a Palestinian “technocratic, apolitical” committee and security enforced by a proposed multinational force.
Gaza remained the centerpiece, yet President Trump also returned to a theme he has raised repeatedly: voluntary emigration by Gazans if opportunities exist. He said a significant percentage of Gazans would move if given the chance to “live in a better climate,” adding, “I think it would be a great opportunity.” Citing surveys, he added that polls showing 50% wanting to leave reflect “common sense.” “Let’s see if that opportunity presents itself,” he said, arguing that more than half would leave “if given the opportunity.”
Iran was the second major focus of the public remarks, with the US commander-in-chief warning that the military could strike again if Tehran attempts to rebuild its nuclear or ballistic missile capabilities and signaling support for an Israeli attack under the same conditions.
“Now I hear that Iran is trying to build up again,” President Trump told reporters. “And if they are, we’re going to have to knock them down. We’ll knock them down. We’ll knock the hell out of them. But hopefully that’s not happening.” He added that if such activity were confirmed, “the consequences will be very powerful, maybe more powerful than the last time.”
The comments came months after US strikes on key Iranian nuclear enrichment sites and a 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June, developments that reshaped regional deterrence and raised concerns in Jerusalem and Washington about Iranian reconstitution efforts. The American president praised the earlier operation, citing “beautiful B-2 bombers,” and framed the threat of renewed force as a warning rather than a foregone conclusion.
Asked whether he would support the overthrow of Iran’s leadership, President Trump declined to issue any regime-change threat, saying he would not “talk about the overthrow of a regime.” Instead, he focused on Iran’s internal repression, adding, “You know, they kill people.”
Lebanon and Hezbollah surfaced as another major topic, though President Trump struck a more guarded tone when asked whether Israel should strike Hezbollah over its refusal to disarm. “We’re going to see about that,” he said. He still criticized the group and described the Lebanese government as constrained: “The Lebanese government is at a little bit of a disadvantage with Hezbollah,” he said, adding that Hezbollah “has been behaving badly.” Israel argues that Hezbollah’s weapons and infrastructure along the border remain a direct threat, while Lebanon has faced growing internal and external pressure to enforce disarmament commitments tied to ceasefire understandings and international diplomacy.
Syria also entered the public exchange, with President Trump claiming a US-Israel understanding on Syria and speaking optimistically about Israel’s relationship with the country’s current leadership. Israel and the US “do have an understanding regarding Syria,” he said. Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the US president said, “has been with us all the way.”
“I’m sure that Israel and him will get along,” he added. “I will try and make it so that they do get along.”
Netanyahu described Israel’s interests along the Syrian frontier in blunt security terms. Israel’s interest “is to have a peaceful border with Syria,” he said. “We also want to secure our Druze friends,” he continued, adding that Christians should be protected throughout the Middle East and in Syria.
During that exchange, President Trump inserted a politically charged claim about the fall of Bashar al-Assad, crediting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and asserting that Netanyahu shared the view. “Bibi agrees with that,” the American president said, calling Turkey “great” in other remarks. Netanyahu has separately sought to depict Israel’s actions against the Iran-backed regional network during the war as a decisive factor in weakening Assad’s position.
While regional security dominated the headline themes, the meeting also produced two political storylines with domestic resonance in Israel: a newly announced honor for President Trump and a renewed controversy over Netanyahu’s ongoing corruption trial.
Netanyahu said the US president was informed that Israel’s Education Ministry would award him the Israel Prize, a high-profile cultural honor that has traditionally gone to Israeli citizens or residents in categories such as the arts and sciences. “President Trump has broken so many conventions to the surprise of people,” Netanyahu said. “So we decided to break a convention too, or create a new one.”
The trial issue moved from subtext to open dispute when President Trump asserted that President Isaac Herzog was preparing to pardon Netanyahu. “How can you not?” he said. “He’s a wartime prime minister who’s a hero. How do you not give a pardon?” The US president then claimed he had direct confirmation: “I spoke to the president, and it’s—he tells me it’s on its way. You can’t do better than that, right?”
Herzog’s office immediately rejected that account. “There has not been a conversation between President Herzog and President Trump since the pardon request was submitted,” the Israeli president’s office said in a statement. It added that the Israeli president spoke several weeks earlier with “a representative on behalf of President Trump” who asked about the US president’s letter, and that “an explanation was provided regarding the stage of the process in which the request currently stands, and that any decision on the matter will be made in accordance with the established procedures.”
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, is charged with bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in three cases, and has argued that ending the proceedings would ease political tensions during wartime. The pardon push has become a repeated feature of President Trump’s public posture toward Israel’s leadership, intersecting with a broader message of personal loyalty toward Netanyahu. “I feel that if you had the wrong prime minister, Israel would not exist,” the American president told reporters, adding that Israelis “actually like him,” before describing Netanyahu’s standing at home as complicated: “He’s got more of a little of a love-hate relationship than I do over there.” He continued: “Even the haters have a lot of respect for him. There’s a lot of jealousy about him.”
Officials on both sides cast the Mar-a-Lago meeting as part of an intensive series of engagements tying Gaza’s next steps to wider regional coordination. Netanyahu also met separately in Florida with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, according to the Prime Minister’s Office, as Washington presses for governance arrangements that would prevent Hamas from resuming rule in Gaza while addressing Israel’s demands for security control and disarmament.
For now, President Trump’s core message was consistent across the major regional issues: Forward movement depends on disarmament—of Hamas in Gaza, and, at least in principle, Hezbollah in Lebanon—paired with deterrence toward Iran. Whether that combination produces a workable second phase in Gaza, or hardens the standoff over who enforces it, is the question that will outlast the Florida photo-op.
PHOTO- President Donald Trump listens as Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during an arrival at his Mar-a-Lago club, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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