US President Donald Trump said on Friday (local time) that he was not sure what would happen on Saturday at noon, a reference to the deadline he put in place earlier this week, saying “let all hell break out” if Hamas does not release hostages still being held in Gaza by noon on Saturday. He reiterated his call on Hamas to release hostages.
Speaking to reporters, Trump spoke about the hostages that were released last week and spoke about how they have turned weak after being in captivity in Gaza. He said that Hamas has treated hostages very badly.
Asked about his earlier deadline for the release of hostages, Trump said, “I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow at 12 o’clock. It was up to me. I’d take a very hard stance. I can’t tell you what Israel is going to do.
But, I watched the last people come out and I looked at it before and after the picture. One guy was a big, strong, healthy guy. Could say he was a little bit overweight? He’s not overweight anymore. He looks like he just came out of the Holocaust. It looks like a Holocaust picture. I’ve looked at him for a long time, and they’ve been treated very badly.”
He said that Hamas had earlier announced that they will not release hostages and recalled the deadline he had given to the terrorist group earlier this week Trump noted that Hamas did not want to release the hostages, however, they made the decision all of a sudden.
Trump said, “A young lady came out last week. Her hand was blown off. I mean, literally, her hand was trying to stop a bullet that was headed for her face. She put up her hand. She goes like this and wiped out her fingers and a lot of her hands. Now, I would take a different stance. But it depends, look, it depends on what Bibi (Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu) going to do. It depends on what Israel is going to do. But, now, I understand they’ve totally changed. Hamas has totally changed. They want to release hostages now again. But you have to see this started by them saying we’re not going to release the hostages as we said we were. I said, good, you have till 12 o’clock on Saturday, which is tomorrow at 12 o’clock to do it. And we didn’t hear anything, then all of a sudden, two days ago, they said, no, we’ve decided we’re going to release the hostages.”
“But, I actually think they should release all of the hostages. Remember, they’re probably as bad as they looked. I mean, I don’t like to say that, but they look really bad. Four days ago, five days ago when I saw the young ladies that came out were treated really badly. You don’t know what happened, but I do. They were treated really badly. But, as bad as they look, the ones that follow probably will look a lot worse. I think they’re sending out their most healthy and they’ve been hit hard on that Hamas. So, they probably didn’t want to release it. But, they obviously changed their mind. I said 12 o’clock tomorrow and all of a sudden, two days ago yesterday, they said we’re going to release. But, this all started with them saying we are not going to release any more hostages and then yesterday they said they were going to release the hostages. But, I think they should release all of the hostages,” he added.
Earlier on Monday, Hamas threatened to delay the next hostage release set to take place on Saturday “until further notice” and accused Israel of breaking the ceasefire deal.
After signing executive orders on February 10, Trump said, “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,” CNN reported.
He stated, “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.”
When asked what “all hell” might entail in Gaza, the US President stated, “You’ll find out, and they’ll find out — Hamas will find out what I mean,” according to CNN report.
He further said, “I’m speaking for myself. Israel can override it, but from myself, Saturday at 12 o’clock, and if they’re not – they’re not here, all hell is going to break out.”
Meanwhile, Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office said on Friday that it had received the names of three male hostages – Sagui Dekel Chen, Sasha Troufanov and Iair Horn set to be released by Hamas on Saturday, as part of the sixth hostage prisoner exchange under the ongoing ceasefire agreement with Hamas, The Times of Israel reported.
Hamas informed Israel regarding the identity of three hostages slated to be released through Egyptian and Qatari mediators, having backed down from its threat on Thursday to delay the next release of captives.
In recent weeks, Hamas has released 16 Israelis and five Thai hostages under the ceasefire agreement, which also requires Israel to release some 2,000 Palestinian security prisoners, including hundreds of terrorists serving life sentences and prison terms for attacks, The Times of Israel reported.
As many as 73 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7, 2023, remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).
