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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that his country would end the war in the Gaza Strip “the hard way” if Hamas doesn’t agree to and abide by the terms of President Donald Trump’s peace deal during a press conference with Trump on Monday.

“If Hamas agrees to your plan, Mr. President, the first step will be a modest withdrawal, followed by the release of all our hostages within 72 hours. The next step will be the establishment of an international body charged with fully disarming Hamas and demilitarizing Gaza. I appreciate your willingness to lead the body, Mr. President. I really appreciate it, because you have a lot of things to do, and this is important. And it reflects the confidence that this will give everyone that things will be followed up on all the commitments made. The fact that you are taking this on, I think, helps a lot to make sure that everything flows in the direction that we want,” began Netanyahu, adding:

Now, if this international body succeeds, we will have permanently ended the war. Israel will conduct further withdrawals linked to the extent of disarmament and demilitarization, but will remain in the security perimeter for the foreseeable future. I think we should understand that we’re giving everybody a chance to have this done peacefully. It’s something that will achieve all our war objectives without any further bloodshed.

“But if Hamas rejects your

plan, Mr. President, or if they supposedly accept it and then basically do everything to counter it, then Israel will finish the job by itself. This can be done the easy way, or it can be done the hard way. But it will be done,” continued the Israeli leader. “We prefer the easy way, but it has to be done. All these goals must be achieved because we didn’t fight this horrible fight, sacrifice the finest of our young men, to have Hamas stay in Gaza and threaten us again, and again, and again with these horrific massacres.”

Prior to Netanyahu’s remarks, Trump said, “I have a feeling that we will have a positive answer. If not, as you know, Bibi, you would have our full backing to do what you have to do.”

Watch above via Fox News.

Tags: Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump, Hamas, Israel