Trump has threatened hell if the Gazans do not release the hostages

elected president Donald Trump He warned on Tuesday that “all hell will break loose in the Middle East” if Hamas does not release the hostages it is holding in Gaza by the January 20 inauguration ceremony.

“And it’s not going to be good for Hamas, and frankly, it’s not going to be good for anybody,” Trump said at a news conference at the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.

“We want to get these hostages back for Israel and for ourselves,” Trump said.

“You know, we have people who are being held hostage,” he said.

Trump has not specified what action he will take if the hostages are not released.

About 100 hostages are believed to be in captivity in Gaza, and some of them are believed to have died.

Hamas on Monday released a list of 34 hostages it said it was willing to release in the first phase of a possible cease-fire deal with Israel.

Trump repeated the warning as his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff told reporters that talks in the Qatari capital Doha to secure the release of hostages seized in the terror group’s deadly Oct. 7 operation had made “a lot of progress.” , 2023, intervention in Israel.

“I believe we’re on the verge of that,” Witkoff said after Trump spotted him at the back of the room and called him to the podium to speak.

Witkoff said he expected to return to Doha on Tuesday or Wednesday morning.

Given that Trump doesn’t take office for another two weeks and that Witkoff is not officially a representative of the US government, it was unclear what role Witkoff played in any negotiations.

On Tuesday, Hamas said it supported Israel’s demand for a complete halt to military operations against Gaza as part of any deal to release the hostages.

Israel, for its part, says that the war will continue until the hostages are released and Hamas is abolished Reuters news service.

“I don’t want to say too much” about the status of the talks in Doha, Witkoff said.

But, he added, “I really hope we’ll have some really good things to announce on behalf of the president at the inauguration.”

He considered Trump’s “reputation, what he said” to be “negotiating”.

“I think they heard him loud and clear and finish the opening ceremony,” Witkoff said.

“Hopefully everything will work out and we’ll save some lives,” he said.