Hamas must be given a deadline for relinquishing its weapons, after which Israel will have a green light to return to combat operations across the Gaza Strip, US Senator Lindsey Graham told The Times of Israel on Sunday.

“Put them on the clock,” said the South Carolina Republican, speaking from a Tel Aviv hotel. “If they don’t disarm in a credible way, then unleash Israel on ’em.”

The second phase of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza demands that Hamas disarm and the Strip be demilitarized. But leaders of the terror group have said publicly and consistently that they won’t give up all their weapons, and have never signed on to the second phase of the plan.

A central element of the vision is a multi-national International Stabilization Force for Gaza, but securing firm troop commitments from partner nations has been an ongoing challenge for the White House. The mandate for the ISF has yet to be cemented, but by all accounts it will not include direct combat with Hamas if the terror group refuses to disarm.

The international force has no chance of success until “Hamas been disarmed,” said Graham. “There’s no international stabilizing force that’s going to come in here and fight.”

Earlier Sunday, Graham met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar. His two-day visit comes a week before Netanyahu’s scheduled trip to the US to meet with Trump.

“My advice to the President [Trump] is until Hamas is dealt out of the game militarily and politically, the chance of success is pretty remote,” he said.

Even with the threat of renewed high-intensity Israeli military operations in Gaza, Graham said, there is little chance that Hamas will disarm voluntarily.

“These people are religious zealots,” he said. “They’re religious Nazis. I have no confidence, short of their demise, that they’re ever going to do anything other than what they promised to do. Did they stop wanting to destroy Israel? Did they change their stated goals? No.”

Iran, Hamas’s sponsor, is also “up to no good,” and still wants to........

© The Times of Israel