US President-elect Donald Trump on Monday threatened those holding hostages in the Middle East with unprecedented American firepower if they are not released by the time he enters office on January 20.
Trump first made a similar threat as a presidential candidate at the Republican National Convention in July, but the latest warning posted on Truth Social came two days after Hamas released a propaganda video showing American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander pleading with the president-elect to secure his release.
The statement also came hours after the IDF revealed that another American-Israeli hostage — Omer Neutra — was killed during Hamas’s October 7 onslaught and that his body is being held in Gaza. Neutra had been thought to be alive, in captivity.
“Everybody is talking about the hostages who are being held so violently, inhumanely, and against the will of the entire World, in the Middle East – But it’s all talk and no action!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, without mentioning Israel or the Palestinian terror group by name.
“Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that if the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity,” he continued.
“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!” Trump added.
He called for the hostages’ release several times throughout his presidential campaign, but also made a point of insisting that most of the hostages are no longer alive.
Accordingly, he was reportedly caught off guard when President Isaac Herzog told him in a call late last month that Israeli intelligence assesses that half of the hostages still in Gaza are alive.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife Sara said she raised the plight of the hostages during her dinner on Sunday night with Trump at the president-elect’s golf resort in Florida.
The outgoing administration is still working to secure a deal before January 20 and US President Joe Biden met with the families of the remaining American hostages last month in the Oval Office.
“I don’t care if Trump gets all the credit as long as they come back home,” Biden told the families during the meeting, according to one of the family members in the room.
After securing a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah last week, Biden said he would launch another effort to secure a similar deal in Gaza, by leaning on Turkey, Qatar, and Egypt, which all have ties with Hamas, in order to coax the terror group into a deal.
The topic was slated to be discussed when a Hamas delegation held meetings in Cairo on Monday.
But White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said that there was no update to offer regarding the efforts to secure a hostage release and ceasefire deal in Gaza.
Kirby said during a Monday press briefing that Hamas remains “the main stumbling block.”
Arab mediators have held a different assessment, viewing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the main obstacle, given his continued refusal to permanently end the war and withdraw all IDF forces from Gaza in exchange for the release of all remaining hostages.
Successive polls have suggested that the majority of the Israeli public is in favor of this trade-off, but Netanyahu is beholden to far-right coalition partners who have rejected it outright, as they seek to re-establish settlements in Gaza and permanently occupy the Strip.
Hardline critics of such a deal have argued that it would allow Hamas to regroup, while Israel’s security establishment has retorted that the IDF can return to Gaza if need be.
Kirby said Monday that Hamas should now feel isolated, following the ceasefire deal in Lebanon, and that its leaders should agree to a deal to end the war.
Later Monday, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer met in Washington with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Blinken raised the ongoing efforts to secure a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza in addition to pressing Israel to advance a viable plan for the post-war management of Gaza.
The US has long expressed frustration with Netanyahu over the latter issue, since, for months, the premier refused to discuss the matter at all.
In November, Netanyahu said he had directed the IDF to come up with a plan for boxing out Hamas from the distribution of humanitarian aid, but Washington and Israel’s Arab allies have warned that this goal is impossible as long as Israel continues to refuse the involvement of a reformed Palestinian Authority, given that they do not see any other viable option in Gaza capable of filling any vacuum left by Hamas.
‘Words alone have no power to comfort’
The family of Omer Neutra, the American-Israeli hostage whose death was announced by Israel on Monday, said words alone would not bring them comfort and called on the leaders of Israel and the United States to act to bring home the remaining hostages.
“In the 423 days since October 7, we expected our leaders to demonstrate the same courage displayed so bravely by Omer and rise to the occasion on behalf of those who were killed and kidnapped, just as our beloved Omer showed until the very end,” Omer’s parents Ronen and Orna and brother Daniel said in a joint statement, expressing their gratitude for the support they have received around the world during their struggle.
“Sadly, time has run out to bring Omer home alive and words alone have no power to comfort. Leadership will only be revealed in actions and results going forward. We call upon the Israeli government to work with President Biden and President-elect Trump, to use all of their leverage and resources to return all 101 hostages — living and the deceased — to their families as soon as possible,” they added.
In his own statement responding to the news, Biden said was “devastated and outraged.”
“A Long Island native, Omer planned to return to the United States for college. He dreamed of dedicating himself to building peace,” the president said.
He recalled meeting Omer’s parents last month at the White House where they again shared their story. “They told me how Omer’s grandparents were Holocaust survivors and how their family’s strength and resilience has been carried through the generations,” Biden said.
“To all the families of those still held hostage: We see you. We are with you. And I will not stop working to bring your loved ones back home where they belong,” Biden pledged.
Edan Alexander, Sagui Dekel-Chen and Keith Siegel are the last remaining American hostages believed to still be alive. The bodies of four other Americans — Neutra, Judith Weinstein, Gadi Haggai and Itay Chen — are still being held in Gaza (Times of Israel).
