President Trump predicted Tuesday that Hamas will not release its hostages in Gaza by Saturday at noon, and warned that “all bets are off” if they don’t they don’t comply with his deadline.
“I have a Saturday deadline and I don’t think they are going to make a deadline,” Mr. Trump told reporters at the White House during his meeting with King Abdullah of Jordan. “Personally, I think they want to play tough guy, but we’ll see how tough they are.”
Mr. Trump said Monday that he had enough of Hamas’ freeing the hostages in “dribs and drabs,” adding that he fears many are dead. He told the terror organization that they had until Saturday at noon to release all remaining hostages or “all hell will break out” in the Middle East, a possible reference to Israel ending the ceasefire.
On Tuesday, Mr. Trump said that Hamas can’t comply with the Saturday deadline because the remaining hostages are in bad condition. He said Hamas is afraid of public outrage if they release hostages in poor physical condition.
“I think the reason Hamas is playing so cute is because they probably saw the reaction to these people that came out,” he said. “I think they want time because the [hostages] are in such bad shape because they’re sending the most healthy people out, because they don’t want to send the least healthy people out.”
Mr. Trump also doubled down on his noon Saturday deadline.
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“They either have them out by Saturday at 12 o’clock or all bets are off,” he said.
Hamas has shrugged off Mr. Trump’s threats.
“Trump must remember that there is an agreement that must be respected by both parties and this is the only way to bring back the [Israeli] prisoners. The language of threats has no value and only complicates matters,” senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters.
Hamas and its affiliated groups reportedly are holding 73 hostages taken from Israel during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack. An additional three hostages held captive since 2014 are still in Gaza. On Saturday, Hamas released three hostages in the latest exchange.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.