“As soon as I say the word, Israel will be back on those streets,” he told CNN in a phone interview Wednesday.
Trump added that his administration would inflict as much damage as possible on coastal areas “if possible.”
The remarks were meant to sidestep the fact that the regime has already killed at least 67,938 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and caused widespread destruction across much of the territory as part of a genocide.
Hamas and the administration reached an agreement based on President Trump’s plan during indirect talks in Egypt earlier this month.
In this agreement, the resistance movement promised to hand over all remaining living and dead Israeli prisoners of war.
Also on Wednesday, the al-Qassam Brigades, an armed wing of Hamas, confirmed that it had transferred all surviving prisoners to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The fighters also said they had removed all the bodies of the remaining dead prisoners within reach.
But the brigade pointed to the widespread destruction caused by the regime as a result of the genocide that began in October 2023, and said the destruction was so severe that it was complicating efforts to retrieve the bodies.
It also noted that the regime’s repeated violations of the agreement further increased the risks and complexities necessary for fighters to recover bodies.
However, Israeli authorities are exploiting this dire situation to threaten a new genocidal invasion.
Most recently, the regime’s military minister, Israel Katz, said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that the occupation forces would resume a military onslaught on besieged territory.
RHM/