Hours after Hamas halted further release of hostages, President Donald Trump warned that “all hell is going to break out” if the Gaza-based terror group did not free all Israeli captives by noon Saturday.
The call to resume the military operation in Gaza was Israel’s to make, but as far as he was concerned, “all bets are off” if Hamas refused to free the hostages languishing in its captivity for nearly 500 days, the President declared.
“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,” President Trump warned.
President wanted all hostages to be released at once and not in tiny batches of twos and threes, as has been the case so far. “All of them, not in drips and drabs, not two and one and three and four and two.” he demanded. “We want ’em all back.”
President Trump issued the warning after witnessing the horrific condition of the three Israeli hostages released by Hamas last Saturday, aptly comparing the frail and emaciated hostages to the survivors of the Holocaust.
CNBC News reported the president’s remarks:
President Trump issued an ultimatum on Monday to Hamas, saying that if all remaining Israeli hostages are not released from Gaza by noon on Saturday, then “all hell is going to break loose.”Asked by reporters for details on what that meant, Mr. Trump initially responded: “You’ll find out, and they’ll find out, too. Hamas will find out what I mean.”He then said ending the ceasefire that took effect on January 19 would be “Israel’s decision,” but that he felt it would be “appropriate” to cancel the agreement if the hostages aren’t released by his deadline. (…)Defense Minister Israel Katz said Hamas’ plan to delay the next release of hostages was “a complete violation” of the ceasefire agreement and that he had instructed the Israeli military to be on the highest level of alert. The prime minister’s coordinator for hostages said the Israeli government intended to live up to its end of the agreement.
“Hamas on Monday … announced it was postponing the release of three hostages that had been scheduled for Saturday.” the Israeli news website YNET reported. The Islamic terror group continues to hold 73 hostages — including women, elderly, and children — out of whom 35 are thought to have been executed or tortured to death by their Palestinian captors.
In a Fox News interview with Bret Baier aired Monday, President Trump warned that he could cut aid going to Jordan and Egypt if they refused to accept refugees from Gaza.
Last week, the president proposed a reconstruction and resettlement plan for the Hamas-infested enclave, a massive construction project that would turn Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East” and offer a better life to its residents in neighboring Arab states.
Reuters reported:
Trump also said he might withhold aid to Jordan and Egypt if they don’t take Palestinian refugees being relocated from Gaza. He is to meet Jordan’s King Abdullah on Tuesday.In an excerpt of an interview with Fox News channel’s Bret Baier broadcast on Monday, Trump added that he thought he could make a deal with Jordan and Egypt to take the displaced Palestinians, saying the U.S. gives the two countries “billions and billions of dollars a year.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu-led security cabinet supported President Trump’s statement but fell short of calling for an em masse release of all Israeli hostages from Hamas’ captivity, Israeli media reported citing a government official.
The Times of Israel reported:
The security cabinet unanimously backs US President Donald Trump’s call for Israeli hostages to be released from Gaza by Saturday, an Israeli official says.Ministers also back Trump’s “revolutionary vision” for the future of Gaza, that would see Palestinians resettled and the US assume control of the rebuilding effort in the enclave post-war.The carefully worded Hebrew comments from the Israeli official seem to stop short of a complete endorsement of all of Trump’s positions, and notably does not refer to “all” hostages. “All cabinet members expressed support for US President Donald Trump’s demand for the release of our hostages by noon on Shabbat, and for his revolutionary vision for the future of Gaza,” the key sentence specifies.The security cabinet meeting, called to discuss Israel’s response to the Hamas announcement that it would freeze future hostage releases until further notice, stretched for four hours. The official describes the Hamas announcement as “the decision by the Hamas terror group to breach the deal.”
President Trump’s ultimatum comes amid grim reports that Hamas had murdered 86-year-old Israeli hostage Shlomo Mansour and was holding on to him as a bargaining chip to get convicted terrorists out of Israeli prisons. Mansour, a father of five and a grandfather to 12 grandchildren, was murdered on October 7, 2023, and his body was dragged back to Gaza by Palestinians, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed Monday.
The terrorists abducted Mansour from his home in Kibbutz Kissufim. His wife, Mazal, managed to escape the clutches of Hamas.
The Israeli news website Arutz Sheva reported:
The IDF has notified the family of Shlomo Mansour, 86, from Kibbutz Kissufim, that it has determined that he was abducted and murdered during the October 7th Massacre and that Hamas is holding his body captive.The IDF stated that “IDF representatives this morning notified the family of Shlomo Mansour of blessed memory, who was brutally abducted to the Gaza Strip, that he was murdered by the Hamas terror organization on October 7th, 2023, and his body is being held in the Gaza Strip. The decision to determine his death was based on intelligence information that was collected over the past months and was confirmed by the Health Ministry’s professional committee in conjunction with the Religious Affairs Ministry and the Israel Police.”His family stated: “Shlomo was the pillar of strength for our entire family. A man of high morals and values, a lover of humanity, who always helped others wholeheartedly. A man with a heart of gold, golden hands, and a smile worth gold.”
Israel responded to Hamas’ move to suspend the hostage deal by putting the armed forces on high alert. “In accordance with the situational assessment, it was decided to raise the level of readiness and postpone leave for combat soldiers and operational units in the Southern Command,” the Israeli military said in a statement Monday night.
The military was also gearing up for a possible Hamas terror offensive. The IDF also “decided to significantly reinforce the area with additional forces for defensive missions.”
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