Donald Trump’s choice for special envoy for hostage affairs once advocated using US special forces to rescue people held captive by Hamas in Gaza.

Adam Boehler, who helped negotiate a deal to normalise relations between Israel and some Arab states with the president-elect’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, was handed the role by the president-elect as part of a flurry of hires on Wednesday.

Around 100 hostages are believed to be being held by Hamas in Gaza after the Islamic terror cult snatched more than double that in the Oct 7 massacre.

Some have been released as part of prisoner swaps, while others have been freed by Israeli military operations.

Others have died in captivity, including Omer Neutra, an American citizen, who was believed to have been being held in Gaza but is not understood to have been killed during the Oct 7 terror attack.

“Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied history of the United States of America. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW,” Mr Trump wrote online on Monday.