Trump warns Hamas ‘we will have no choice’ if bloodshed persists in Gaza

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US President Donald Trump has warned Hamas “we will have no choice but to go in and kill them” if internal bloodshed persists in Gaza.

The grim warning from Mr Trump came after he previously downplayed the internal violence in the territory since a ceasefire went into effect last week.

The US president said on Tuesday that Hamas had taken out “a couple of gangs that were very bad” and had killed a number of gang members.

“That didn’t bother me much, to be honest with you,” he said.

This comes as Israel has threatened to resume fighting in Gaza after Hamas announced that it could not return any further remains of deceased Israeli hostages without specialist recovery equipment that is needed to retrieve the rest from the ruins of the devastated territory.

The threat from Israel Katz, the defence minister, came after Hamas handed over the remains of two further bodies late on Wednesday, bringing the total of known deceased hostages returned by Hamas to nine – along with a tenth body that Israel said was not that of a former hostage.

Israeli officials also said the Rafah crossing from Gaza into Egypt, which aid agencies consider critical for bringing sufficient humanitarian assistance into the territory, would open at “a later stage” and not on Thursday as planned.

A spokesperson for Cogat, the Israeli defence ministry body that oversees civil affairs in the Palestinian territories, also suggested that Rafah would remain closed to aid in the future, although individual passage would be allowed.

“It should be emphasised that humanitarian aid will not pass through the Rafah crossing. This was never agreed upon at any stage,” it said, adding that “aid continues to enter the Gaza Strip” through other crossings.

Donald Trump’s 20-point plan includes “full aid” reaching Gaza, where a famine was declared in parts in August, as well as the return of all the hostages, dead and alive.

Regional officials have told the Guardian they expected the first days and weeks of the ceasefire agreed by Hamas and Israel to be “tense” and “scratchy”, with aid and the return of the remains of hostages among key issues. Much of Trump’s plan, including many of the most difficult issues, has yet to be fully discussed by negotiating teams.