United States President Donald Trump said on February 10 that Israel should end the ceasefire in Gaza and resume military action if all hostages are not released by the end of the week, Times Of Israel reported.
This came after Hamas announced a delay in releasing hostages scheduled for Saturday. Speaking with the reporters, Trump said that Israel might choose to disregard his ultimatum and the Saturday noon deadline, adding that he might speak to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“As far as I am concerned, if all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday at 12 o’clock, I think it’s an appropriate time. I would say, cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out. I’d say they ought to be returned by 12 o’clock on Saturday,” Trump said.
Trump’s comments came hours after Hamas announced that it intended to delay the next release of Israeli hostages planned for Saturday, “until further notice,” in response to what it claimed were Israeli violations of the ongoing hostage-ceasefire deal, Times of Israel reported.
In a post on X published before Trump spoke, Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas’ armed wing Qassam Brigades, said that the handover of the hostages “who were scheduled to be released next Saturday … will be postponed until further notice, and until the occupation commits to and compensates for the entitlements of the past weeks retroactively,” CNN reported. He added, “We affirm our commitment to the terms of the agreement as long as the occupation commits to them.”
Later, Hamas issued a statement claiming that there was still a chance for the planned release to proceed as originally scheduled. The group described the delay as a “warning” to Israel, aimed at pressuring the country into “fully honouring” the terms of the ceasefire agreement.
“By issuing this statement five full days ahead of the scheduled prisoner handover, Hamas aims to grant mediators sufficient time to pressure the occupation to fulfill its obligations. This also leaves the door open for the exchange to proceed as planned, provided the occupation complies,” the statement read, according to CNN.
On February 10, Trump also compared the released hostages by Hamas to Holocaust survivors, a video shared by the White House noted.
In the video, Trump said, “Hamas has been a disaster. By the way, I have to tell you that I watched the hostages come back today and they looked like Holocaust survivors. They were in horrible condition. They were emaciated.”
Trump added, “…They have been treated brutally, horribly. Even the ones that came out earlier, they were in a little bit better shape, but mentally they were treated so badly. Who could take that? You know, at some point we’re going to lose our patience. When I see that scene that I saw today with people coming out of helicopters and airplanes that are emaciated that look like they haven’t had a meal in a month. No reason for that.”
(With inputs from ANI)
