President Donald Trump on Sunday demanded the terror group Hamas release the last of the remaining hostages or suffer “consequences.”
Trump issued the threat in a post on Truth Social over the weekend. The president said that his post would be his “last warning” to the terror group to release the hostages.
“Everyone wants the Hostages HOME. Everyone wants this War to end! The Israelis have accepted my Terms. It is time for Hamas to accept as well. I have warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting. This is my last warning, there will not be another one!” Trump posted.
It’s unclear what action Trump may take if Hamas refuses to release the remaining hostages from captivity. The president issued the threat after on Friday telling reporters that some of the roughly 20 hostages still believed to be alive in the Gaza Strip may have died.
“It’s 20 people but I think of the 20 there could be some that have recently died is what I’m hearing. I hope that’s wrong,” said Trump in the Oval Office. “We know that at least 30 people are dead, and we are negotiating to get them out.”
The president said that negotiating the release of the final hostages remaining alive would be difficult and likely require some form of “capitulation.”
“When you get down to the final 10 or 20, you’re not gonna get them out unless you’re gonna do a lot and doing a lot means capitulation,” he said.
The pressure from the White House comes as Israel has ramped up military operations in the enclave. On Saturday, Israeli Defense Forces spokesman Avichay Adraee warned some Palestinians living in Gaza City to evacuate ahead of a planned Israeli airstrike.
“The Defense Army will attack the building soon due to the presence of Hamas terrorist infrastructure inside or near it,” Adraee posted to X. “For your safety, you are required to evacuate building immediately southward toward the humanitarian zone in Mawasi Khan Younis.”
The warning from Adraee came after Hamas released footage of two hostages taken on October 7, 2023. The footage shows Guy Gilboa-Dalal in late August pleading to be released from captivity. The footage also shows Alon Ohel on the day that he was taken hostage nearly two years ago.
The release of the footage caused sharp condemnation for the terror group in Israel over its treatment of the hostages.
