U.S. President Donald Trump has warned Hamas to release all remaining hostages by noon on Saturday or face the possibility of renewed military action.
He stated that if the deadline is not met, he would support Israel in canceling the ongoing ceasefire and allowing full-scale hostilities to resume.
“As far as I’m concerned, if all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday at 12 o’clock, I would say, cancel it, and all bets are off—let hell break out,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday night.
However, he did not clarify which time zone the deadline referred to.
The president also hinted at the possibility of U.S. military involvement in the conflict but remained non-committal, saying, “We’ll see what happens.” When pressed on what he meant by “all hell is going to break out,” Trump responded, “You’ll find out, and they’ll find out too.”
Trump emphasized that he was speaking for himself but acknowledged that Israel ultimately had the right to decide its course of action.
He also expressed concern that many of the hostages may already be dead, citing the poor condition of recently released captives.
Three Israeli hostages—Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami, and Or Levy—were freed on Saturday but were reported to be severely malnourished after 16 months in captivity.
Meanwhile, Hamas announced on Monday that it was postponing a scheduled hostage release, accusing Israel of not fulfilling its obligations under the ceasefire agreement.
Abu Obeida, a spokesperson for Hamas’ military wing, stated that releases would be halted “until the occupation commits to and compensates for the entitlements of the past weeks retroactively.”