President Donald Trump spoke on Sunday regarding the ultimatum he gave to Hamas last week about the hostages’ release, stating that ultimately, the decision on how to proceed rests with Israel, in consultation with him.
“I told Bibi, you do whatever you want because, you know, my statement was they’ve got to come back,” Trump told reporters. “Now, the reason I made that statement was because [Hamas] said they weren’t going to deliver, they were not going to deliver the people that they said they were going to deliver, that they agreed to deliver…When I made the statement, they delivered everybody plus an American.”
“Now, the good news is [the hostages who were returned on Shabbos] look like they’re in pretty good shape because the people from the week before didn’t look like they were in good shape. They looked like Holocaust survivors, frankly. Horrible. Whatever happened to them was horrible,” he added.
On the next steps, Trump explained, “That will be up to Israel, in consultation with me.”
Trump had previously warned Hamas, asserting that if it were his decision, any ceasefire and hostage deal should be called off if all hostages were not released.
“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,” he added.
Trump also acknowledged that the ultimate decision would be Israel’s, saying, “I’m speaking for myself. Israel can override it.”
Trump’s comments came shortly after Hamas’ military wing spokesperson, Abu Obaida, announced that the group would delay the next round of hostage releases, claiming that Israel had violated the terms of the agreement.
Eventually, Hamas confirmed on Thursday that the ceasefire deal would continue as initially planned and that more hostages would be released on Saturday.
On Saturday, after Hamas released three hostages—Sagui Dekel-Chen, Alexander (Sasha) Troufanov, and Yair Horn—following 498 days of captivity, Trump took to social media to state that Israel now had to decide what to do about the deadline set for Hamas.
“Hamas has just released three Hostages from GAZA, including an American Citizen. They seem to be in good shape! This differs from their statement last week that they would not release any Hostages. Israel will now have to decide what they will do about the 12:00 O’CLOCK, TODAY, DEADLINE imposed on the release of ALL HOSTAGES. The United States will back the decision they make!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
{Matzav.com}