Donald Trump warns ‘all’ Israeli hostages must be released by Saturday

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Donald Trump on Monday warned “all hell is going to break out” if Hamas fails to return “all” Israeli hostages from Gaza by 12 o’clock on Saturday.

His comments follow Hamas’s earlier announcement that it was postponing the release of Israeli hostages planned for this Saturday “until further notice”, accusing Israel of not sticking to a complex ceasefire agreement between the two sides.

The US president said he would support cancelling the ceasefire if the hostages were not released by his deadline.

“As far as I’m concerned, if all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday at 12 o’clock . . . I would say, cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out,” Trump said, although he failed to specify whether the deadline was at midnight or noon.

His remarks risk undermining the painstakingly negotiated ceasefire in Gaza and could change the terms of the deal reached late last year by Joe Biden’s administration and Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East.

The back-and-forth is the latest — and potentially most serious — in a series of disputes that have threatened the fragile deal, which took effect three weeks ago, halting the 15-month war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Under the terms of the three-phase agreement, Hamas has been gradually freeing some of the Israeli hostages it holds in Gaza in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.

But Trump on Monday said he was opposed to the drawn-out process.

“If they’re not returned — all of them, not in drips and drabs, not two and one and three and four and two — by Saturday at 12 o’clock . . . after that, I would say, all hell is going to break out,” he said.

Trump declined to provide further details, saying only that “Hamas will find out what I mean”.

Asked whether he could rule out any US involvement after the Saturday deadline, Trump said: “We’ll see what happens.”

Although five exchanges have taken place, the Palestinian militant group has accused Israel of breaching various other aspects of the deal.

It said Israel had delayed the return of Palestinians to north Gaza, opened fire in several areas and limited the entry of humanitarian aid into the shattered enclave.

As a result, Hamas said it would postpone the next hostage release until Israel “complies with the agreement and compensates for the past weeks retroactively”.

But in a second statement a couple of hours later, Hamas appeared to soften its position slightly, saying it had “deliberately” made its announcement five days before the next exchange in order to give mediators time to “pressure [Israel] to implement its obligations”.

Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz branded Hamas’s announcement a “complete violation of the ceasefire agreement”, and said he had ordered the Israeli military “to prepare at the highest level of alert for any possible scenario in Gaza and to protect the communities” of southern Israel.

The two sides have traded accusations of breaches of the agreement throughout the past three weeks, resulting in some exchanges being briefly delayed, but without derailing the deal.

In the first part of the agreement thrashed out by US-led mediators, Hamas was meant to release 33 Israeli hostages, including all children, women and men over 50.

By Saturday, it had released 21 of them in return for the release of more than 700 Palestinian prisoners. Hamas also released five Thai workers whom it seized during the October 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war.

The second stage of the deal, in which Hamas is meant to release all the remaining living hostages — in exchange for hundreds more Palestinian prisoners, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a permanent end to the fighting — is due to begin in March.

But negotiations have yet to begin on the details. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — under intense pressure from his far-right allies to resume the war when the first stage ends — last week said he would continue the fighting until Hamas was destroyed, casting doubt on the chances of the second phase taking effect.

The prospects of a longer-term deal have also been thrown into question by Trump’s announcement that he wants the US to take over Gaza and resettle its population of more than 2mn people elsewhere.

The idea has provoked vehement opposition from Palestinians, the Arab world and much of the international community.

In an excerpt from an interview with Fox News due to be aired later on Monday, Trump said Palestinians who left under his plan would not have the right to return “because they’re going to have much better housing”. This contradicted US officials who had suggested their resettlement would be temporary.

Trump also repeated his assertion he would persuade Egypt and Jordan to take in Palestinian refugees, something they have repeatedly ruled out. Later on Monday he added he might withhold aid from the two allies if they failed to comply.

“Yeah, maybe, sure why not?” he said. “If they don’t, I would conceivably withhold aid, yes.”