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US president-elect Donald Trump on Monday warned there would be “all hell to pay in the Middle East” if Hamas had not released the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza before he takes office in January.
Trump’s comments came as Joe Biden’s administration is making a final push for a ceasefire-for-hostages deal between Israel and Hamas after its success last week in brokering an end to the conflict between Israel and Hizbollah in Lebanon.
If the hostages are not released by January 20 2025, when he takes office, “there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East”, Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
He added: “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.”
It was not clear whether Trump was referring to US military action or other penalties and his campaign did not immediately respond to a request to clarify.
US efforts to broker an agreement to end the conflict and secure the release of the remaining hostages have floundered for more than a year. Many diplomats have predicted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would wait until after the US elections before agreeing a deal.
Trump’s signal that he wants to see an agreement reached before he takes office could provide new momentum in the talks.
US officials have said there has been more openness to the discussions from Israeli officials in recent days and that the Lebanon ceasefire has created new opportunities for diplomacy.
Ron Dermer, a senior adviser to Netanyahu, was in Washington for meetings with officials in the Biden administration on Monday and will head to Florida for talks about a deal with Trump campaign officials, said people familiar with the matter.
There are 101 hostages remaining in Gaza, about half of whom are believed dead. Trump’s post came several hours after Israel confirmed an Israeli-US hostage Omer Neutra, a soldier, was killed on October 7 2023. It was previously believed he was alive.
More than 44,000 Palestinians have been killed during Israel’s ferocious retaliation for the Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack on Israel, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Hamas’s militants killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 hostage during the assault, according to Israeli officials.
Under Trump, the US approach to the Middle East is expected to place a greater emphasis on confronting Iran. The president-elect’s team is also expected to redouble efforts to normalise relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. A Hamas-Israel ceasefire deal would free up his administration to focus on those priorities.
Biden discussed the ceasefire negotiations with Trump when they met in the Oval Office last month. The president’s officials have also briefed members of the Trump team, including appointees Mike Waltz, as national security adviser, and Steve Witkoff, as Middle East envoy, about the talks.