US President Donald Trump, Image credit: AP/PTI
Washington: US President-elect Donald Trump threatened Hamas that they must release all hostages by the time he takes office or face severe repercussions, Reuters reported.
The threat came on Monday, while the diplomacy led by outgoing US President Joe Biden bore no fruit in securing a deal to end the war in Gaza and freeing the Israeli citizens Hamas hold as hostages.
Trump on his social media platform, "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."
"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!"
Far-right leader Trump had pledged strong support to Israel and had never minded Biden’s occasional criticism of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Following the deadliest attack Hamas ever carried out in Israel on October 7, 2023, Israel started its full-on war in Gaza, killing around 44,500 people in the enclave. The October 7 attack killed 1,208 people in Israel while around 250 were taken by Hamas as hostages.
Hamas had released some hostages while some were dead and 97 of them are still in Hamas custody.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine informed that it is stopping aid deliveries through the main cargo crossing into the enclave, the Associated Press reported. The agency blamed Israeli policies for the breakdown of law and order in war-torn-Gaza.