Trump Threatens Hamas: “Release Hostages Now or ALL HELL TO PAY!!!”
President-elect Donald Trump posted an explicit threat to the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas on Truth Social on Monday, threatening to exact vengeance against Hamas should the hostages being held in Gaza not be released before he enters the White House:
“Everybody is talking about the hostages who are being held so violently, inhumanely, and against the will of the entire World, in the Middle East,” Trump wrote. “But it’s all talk, and no action! Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that if the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity. Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW!”
Trump’s post comes after the announcement that U.S.-Israeli citizen Omer Neutra had died in the brutal massacre of Israelis and Hamas was holding his body in Gaza. Neutra, 21, was a platoon commander in Israel’s armored corps. He was among 48 Americans the State Department says were killed in the attack. News of Neutra’s death came as Hamas released a hostage video of Edan Alexander, 20, an Israeli-American from Long Island, New York.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas, aided by Palestinian civilians, murdered more than 1,200 Israelis and took 251 hostages into Gaza including children, women, and elderly people. Almost half of the hostages are foreign nationals or have multiple citizenships. Some hostages were Negev Bedouins. 117 hostages had been returned alive to Israel, with 105 released in a prisoner exchange deal, four released by Hamas, and the IDF rescued eight. The bodies of 34 hostages were recovered by the IDF and three hostages were inadvertently killed in a rescue operation.
An estimated 101 hostages, many of them US citizens, are still being held in horrific conditions over 420 days. Attempts by the Biden administration to negotiate a ceasefire, characterized by a strategy of pressuring Israel to accept conditions that would leave Hamas in power in Gaza, have been unsuccessful.
President Biden sent a message to the families of those still held hostage in Gaza, saying, “We see you. We are with you. And I will not stop working to bring your loved ones back home where they belong.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Trump for his words at the cabinet meeting held on Tuesday in Nahariya in northern Israel. “”I want to thank President Trump for his strong statement yesterday. It is a very strong statement which makes it clear that there is one party responsible for this situation — and that is Hamas. Hamas must release the hostages.”
“The terrorist organization is required to release the hostages,” Netanyahu continued. “President Trump put the emphasis in the right place — on Hamas, and not on the Israeli government, as is customary in some places.”
President Isaac Herzog also thanked his American counterpart. In a tweet he posted on Twitter, “Thank you and bless you Mr. President-elect Trump. We all pray for the moment we see our sisters and brothers back home!”
“How refreshing it is to hear clear and morally sound statements that do not create a false equivalence or call for addressing ‘both sides,’ but rather clarify who are good and who are bad,” said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. “This is the way to bring back the hostages: by increasing the pressure and the costs for Hamas and its supporters, and defeating them, rather than giving in to their absurd demands.”
Hamas official Basem Naim blamed Netanyahu for the hostage crisis, telling the New York Times that Trump’s threat was aimed at the Israeli prime minister.
“At many times we were extremely close to signing on a deal, but due to his savage actions and decision, these deals broke down,” Naim said. “Therefore, we understand (Trump’s) message is directed first at Netanyahu and his government to end this evil game.”
“It’s exactly the type of language we were missing,” Ruby Chen, father of Hamas captive Itay Chen, told “Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade on Tuesday.
“It’s seven U.S. hostages, and I think that the message was not just directed to Hamas. I think it was also directed to Iran and the other beneficiaries that have been supporting Hamas financially,” Chen said.
“It is unacceptable that Hamas is able to pay tens of millions of dollars monthly to these people. The money is coming from places that we know, places in the Middle East, people or countries that claim to be allies of the United States … and that needs to stop. I think that it’s going to be a very strong message from the president once he gets into office, and that’s part of what he means.”
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