President Donald Trump has given terror group Hamas a stern warning: Release all hostages or “all bets are off.”
During an interview with reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said Hamas will have until Saturday noon to release all remaining Israeli hostages or all “hell is gonna break out.”
“Well, I would say this … if all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday at 12 o’clock, I think that’s an appropriate time, I would say, cancel it and all bets are off,” Trump said. “Let hell break out. I’d say they better be returned by 12 o’clock 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 gonna break out.”
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Mediaite reported that Hamas had brokered a hostage release deal in January to release the hostages they had taken in October 2023 in stages. Hamas then threatened to go back on the deal and postpone hostage swaps because it said Israel was violating the agreement.
However, Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said he has instructed Israel’s military to “prepare at the highest level of alert for any possible scenario in Gaza,” adding that Hamas trying to hold onto hostages longer was a “complete violation of the ceasefire agreement and the deal to release the hostages,” according to CNN.
CNN analyst Barak Ravid said Monday, that the pressure from Trump will have an impact on Hamas and how they proceed from this point and further put pressure on the Israeli government to also take action, especially as some of the hostages who have been released were in a dire physical condition.
“So, they definitely have an impact. And, you know, there are some Israeli officials who are involved in the negotiations that think that this is also a signal by Hamas that they, you know, that they it’s their way to push back on Trump’s recent comments about moving Palestinians out of Gaza,” Ravid said.
Ravid noted Trump is clearly losing patience with the situation being dragged out.
“He said that there’s a dribble of hostages coming out and that at a certain point and that he starts to lose his patience.” Ravid said. “And I think the number one question is whether President Trump is going to say now, listen, I’m not going to have like the situation of every week another three hostages, everyone who is now held by Hamas, I want them out as part of one big deal and not this phased approach. And I think that’s the question, whether Trump will go down that road or will continue down the current path.”
