US President-elect Donald Trump has promised “there will be hell to pay” if captives held in Gaza during the ongoing war against Israel are not released before he takes office on January 20.
Monday’s statement is Trump’s most forceful on stalled efforts to end the war since the Nov. 5 U.S. election and comes amid reports he is pushing for a ceasefire. before the start of his second term.
In an article on Truth Social, Trump denounced “all talk and no action” about the captives, apparently mocking US President Joe Biden and his administration’s failure to broker a ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas in more than a year of war.
“Please let this TRUTH serve to demonstrate that if the hostages are not released before January 20, 2025, when I proudly assume office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those who perpetrated these atrocities against humanity,” he said.
“Those responsible will be hit harder than anyone in the long and storied history of the United States of America. FREE THE HOSTAGES NOW! » he wrote.
The post gave no details on what the threat would entail or whether it might involve the deployment of the US military. He also did not specify which parties he was referring to, but notably referred only to captives held by Hamas, without mentioning Palestinian civilians who bore the brunt of Israeli operations in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leaders have been accused for months of failing negotiations aimed at ending the fighting.
Hamas has repeatedly offered to release captives held in Gaza in exchange for an end to the war, but the Israeli government is adamant that the war will continue until Hamas is totally defeated.
At least one Israeli official was quick to welcome Trump’s message Monday.
“Thank you and bless you, Mr. President-elect @realDonaldTrump,” President Isaac Herzog wrote on X. “We are all praying for the time when we will see our sisters and brothers home again!”
Politics takes shape
Despite its ambiguity, the promise of escalation represents a departure for Trump as the Middle East policies of his second term continue to take shape.
The former president had campaigned on the general idea that he would bring peace to the Middle East, particularly Gaza, but offered few details on how to achieve that. His “America First” agenda has long avoided further involvement of U.S. forces, assets or financing in conflicts abroad.
At the same time, Trump has expressed support for Israel to “finish the job” in the Palestinian enclave and has long been Netanyahu’s preferred leader in the United States.
During his first term, from 2017 to 2021, Trump was a strong supporter of America’s ally.
He moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, whose illegally occupied eastern half has long been considered the capital of a future Palestinian state. He recognized Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights in Syria. He concluded a series of normalization agreements between Israel and Arab countries and enabled the rapid expansion of Israeli settlements, illegal under international law.
This time around, Trump has filled his administration appointments with staunchly pro-Israel officials, including his secretary of state, Sen. Marco Rubio, a staunch defender of the Israeli war, and the ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, a strong supporter of Israeli settlements in the United States. Occupied West Bank which refuses to use its commonly used name, instead referring to “Judea and Samaria”.
Ceasefire talks resume
Yet speaking to the news site Axios last week, Trump ally and Sen. Lindsey Graham said the president-elect “is more determined than ever to free the hostages and supports a ceasefire that includes a hostage agreement.
“He wants this to happen now,” he said.
Graham made the statement just days after Biden announced that a ceasefire had been reached between Israel and Hezbollah to end the fighting in Lebanon.
On Monday, that agreement appeared on the verge of collapse, with Hezbollah and Israel accusing each other of violating its terms.
Biden also promised to redouble efforts to reach a long-elusive deal to end the fighting in Gaza, where at least 44,466 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its war following Hamas attacks. October 7, 2023 which killed at least 1,139 people. in Israel with more than 200 prisoners.
Israeli authorities said 101 prisoners remained in Gaza. On Monday, Hamas said a total of 33 captives had been killed since the start of the war.
Hamas officials told reporters on Sunday that the group’s leaders held talks with Egyptian security officials as part of a renewed push for a ceasefire. Israeli officials also said Netanyahu would hold security talks on the issue.
Speaking to CNN, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said he believed the chances of a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal had improved. improved although they remain a distant prospect.
“(Hamas) is isolated. Hezbollah no longer fights alongside them, and their supporters in Iran and elsewhere are preoccupied with other conflicts,” he said.
“So I think maybe we have a chance to progress, but I’m not going to predict exactly when that will happen. … We’ve come so close time and time again without ever crossing the finish line.
White House officials have made similar claims repeatedly without achieving a ceasefire.