BREAKING: Trump demands Hamas release all hostages by Saturday or ‘all hell will break out’
“And I don’t think they’re going to do it. I think a lot of them are dead.”
Speaking from the Oval Office on Monday amid a fresh flurry of executive orders, Trump said that he proposes Israel cancel their current ceasefire terms with Palestinian terror group Hamas should the group continue to keep hostages past Saturday. During the ceasefire, Hamas has released just a few hostages at a time while Israel has done mass releases of prisoners, many of whom are convicted terrorists and murderers.
Trump proposed an ultimatum after three hostages released over the weekend looked emaciated and tortured, saying that if those hostages aren’t released by this coming Saturday, February 15, “all hell is going to break loose.” If the hostages aren’t released by 12 pm local time on Saturday, he will encourage Israel to terminate the ceasefire.
“I looked a the hostages that came in and they were emaciated,” he told reporters. “It looked like something out of the 1930s. It’s an absolute disgrace. And I think they saw the way the world viewed it and they’re looking for a reason not to send more because they’re all, it looked like it was a concentration camp, which essentially it was, it looked like they came out of the Holocaust, it was a sad thing.”
Trump noted that Hamas was probably sending “the best,” the people who looked the most healthy, but that “they are really hurting.” Hamas had said they would stop sending out hostages, claiming that Israel had broken the ceasefire.
He noted that while a determination on the ceasefire was Israel’s decision, but that “As far as I’m concerned, if all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday at 12 o’clock, I think it’s an appropriate time, I would say cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out. I’d say they ought to be returned by 12 o’clock on Saturday. And if they’re not returned, all of them not in drips and drabs, not two and one and three and four and two, Saturday at 12 o’clock.
“And after that, I would say all hell is going to break out,” he continued, bringing up the human toll. “And I don’t think they’re going to do it. I think a lot of them are dead. I think a lot of the hostages are dead. I think it’s a great it’s a great human tragedy, what’s happened, how people can be that mean to do? And the one guy was laughing when, when a hostage, he thought his family was alive, found out the family was dead, and his captor, so to speak, his capture, started laughing because he thought it was so funny. You know, this is, this is a different group of people. No, I would say, Saturday at 12 we want them all back. I’m speaking for myself. Israel can override it, but from myself, Saturday at 12 o’clock. And if they’re not, if they’re not here, all hell is going to break out.”
He made similar assertions ahead of his inauguration, demanding that the hostages be released by that day, January 20. There are still over 70 being held, though many of those are believed to be dead. The ceasefire deal was worked out at the end of the Biden administration, although both presidents took credit for the deal.
Trump’s November win to regain the White House shifted the balance of international power as it is well known that Trump is more unpredictable than his predecessors in negotiation and on the foreign stage. This comes from his years of business experience.