Former US president Donald Trump criticized the Biden administration for not ensuring that US citizens were among the initial group of hostages released from captivity in the Gaza Strip as part of a deal between Israel and the Hamas terror group.
“Has anybody noticed that Hamas has returned people from other Countries but, so far, has not returned one American Hostage?” Trump wrote on his Truth social media platform Saturday.
“There is only one reason for that, NO RESPECT FOR OUR COUNTRY OR OUR LEADERSHIP. This is a very sad and dark period of America!”
Twenty-six Israeli hostages — women, children, and elderly people who were among the hundreds of people abducted by Hamas-led terrorists last month during a devastating attack on Israel — were set free over the weekend in two groups.
Another 14 Thai nationals and one Filipino were also freed as part of a separate deal negotiated by Egypt with the involvement of Qatar and Iran.
The Israeli hostages were handed over following intense talks mediated by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States, as part of a four-day truce deal whose terms called for a pause in fighting in Gaza in exchange for Hamas freeing a total of about 50 Israeli hostages overall, in groups of roughly a dozen per day, by Monday.
Meanwhile, the Israel Prison Service has released 78 Palestinian prisoners as part of the deal with Hamas.
“Hamas now wants a better deal for hostages,” Trump wrote without elaborating. “This is not going to end well!”
The hostage deal went into effect with a pause in fighting Friday at 7 a.m., followed by the release of the first group of 13 Israeli hostages on Friday afternoon, after 49 days in Gaza.
The deal incentivizes additional hostage releases, with Israel agreeing to an additional day of a truce for every 10 additional hostages released by Hamas.
The released hostages are only a fraction of the some 240 held in Gaza since they were abducted on October 7, when 3,000 Hamas-led terrorists slaughtered 1,200 people in southern Israel, most of them civilians, amid shocking acts of brutality.
Washington officials believe around ten US citizens are among those being held.
US President Joe Biden on Friday welcomed the release of the initial group of hostages and said that he expects US citizens to be returned to Israel.
“We don’t know when that will occur, but we expect it to occur,” Biden said in prepared remarks to the press in Nantucket, Massachusetts, where he was celebrating Thanksgiving.
The US president highlighted the three American citizens who fit the criteria for release in the current agreement, including Avigail Idan, who turned 4 on Friday and whose parents were murdered on October 7 by Hamas terrorists.
Two dual Israeli-US citizens were previously released on October 20 from captivity in Gaza. The circumstances of their release have not been made public.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, Republican of Colorado, also criticized Biden, writing on X, formerly Twitter, that “Hamas is refusing to release the American citizens they have taken hostage.”
“What is the President of the United States doing about this?” Boebert tweeted Saturday. “He’s continuing to enjoy his holiday vacation in a $40 million dollar mansion.”
Earlier this month, Trump, the current GOP frontrunner for the 2024 presidential elections, gave an interview with Univision in which he said of the Israel-Hamas war, “You’re probably going to have to let this play out.”
He also claimed the Hamas attack would never have happened while he was president because of his tough approach to Iran, which backs the terror group.
Trump earlier this month sharply criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; faulted Israel’s intelligence agencies, saying they needed to “step up their game”; and referred to Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terror group that has been skirmishing with Israeli forces along the Lebanese border throughout the war in Gaza, as “very smart.”
Agencies contributed to this report.