By Filip Timotija and Colin Meyn,

(December 29, 2025 / The Hill) President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were in lockstep on Monday during a press conference following their lunch meeting at Mar-a-Lago, ramping up pressure on Hamas to disarm and threatening to renew attacks on Iran if it seeks to build up its ballistic missile program. 

Trump said Israel had lived up to its commitments in the Gaza ceasefire plan “100 percent,” despite the U.S. reportedly scolding Netanyahu for killing a top Hamas military leader in Gaza earlier this month. 

And the president sought to ramp up pressure on Israel’s adversaries, telling Hamas to disarm quickly or be “wiped out,” and even suggesting that Arab countries might intervene militarily if Hamas refuses to abide by the contours of a peace deal signed in September. 

Trump said it was unclear if Iran was seeking to “build up again,” apparently referring to reports of ballistic missile testing, but he warned the U.S. could deploy its B-2 bombers if necessary, as it did to launch strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June. 

Trump also discussed the latest developments in his push for peace in Ukraine, ongoing efforts to bring stability to Syria and China’s military drills around Taiwan. 

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Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, said he was encouraged to hear Trump give a short deadline for complete disarmament, after hearing other officials and lawmakers suggest partial disarmament over a two-year time frame. 



“I’ve heard that from important people. So I was thrilled to hear soon, soon is less than two years,” he said. “So yes, of course, I would prefer for him to have said they must disarm by the end of January … you know, to give it a real date, that has a lot more power, but using the word ‘soon’ is good enough for me.”

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