US President-elect Donald Trump has reaffirmed his ultimatum to the Gaza-based Hamas militant group to free the captives held by them before his inauguration on January 20 or “all hell will break out.”
“It won’t be beneficial for Hamas or anyone else. All hell will burst loose. “I don’t have to say anything else, but that’s what it is,” Trump said in a statement from his Mar-a-Lago home on Tuesday, adding that Hamas should not have attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.
Trump was replying to reporters’ concerns about the progress of negotiations with Hamas for the release of American captives.
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East, who recently returned from the region, stated that Hamas is on the verge of releasing captives and that a ceasefire agreement is close to being finished.
“I believe we were on the verge of it. I don’t want to debate what’s causing the delay; there’s no use in being negative in any manner. But I believe the president’s prominence, what he has stated he expects, and the red lines he has set, are driving this negotiation,” Witkoff said.
However, a senior Biden administration official stated that the negotiations remain “difficult”. Trump went on to say, “They (Hamas) should have given them back a long time ago, they should never have taken them.”
According to the Israeli government, the Hamas militant group killed over 1,200 people in Israel and held over 250 hostages in a surprise strike on October 7, 2023.
It resulted in an intensification of hostilities in the region, including conflicts between Israel and Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthis, among others.
