Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, who played a key role in negotiating the current ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group, cautioned that there would be serious consequences if Hamas failed to meet Trump’s demand for the release of all hostages by noon on Shabbos.
“Hamas is a terrorist organization. They should not be allowed to be part of the government in Gaza. This is an unhealthy situation, they need to go,” Witkoff stated during an appearance on C-Span on Wednesday.
“The president said all that we all need to know, which is Saturday, 12 o’clock he expects there to be something different occurring, and if it’s not there’s going to be a big problem,” he added.
On Monday, Trump warned Hamas that the ceasefire and hostage deal should be canceled if the hostages were not all released by the set deadline. “As far as I’m concerned, if all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday at 12:00 o’clock, I think it’s an appropriate time, I would say cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out,” Trump declared.
“I’d say they ought to be returned by 12:00 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 12:00 o’clock. And after that, I would say all hell is going to break out,” Trump continued.
Trump also acknowledged that the final decision would be up to Israel, stating, “I’m speaking for myself. Israel can override it.”
{Matzav.com}