President Donald Trump issued an ultimatum to Hamas on Monday: it must release all of the remaining Israeli and American hostages from Gaza by noon on Saturday, or the ceasefire deal is over — and Israel can respond as it wants.
“All bets are off … let hell break out,” Trump said, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office as he signed executive orders. The president made his announcement after Hamas said that it would delay the release of hostages in the “first phase” of the six-week ceasefire deal, citing supposed Israeli violations of the deal.
Many Israelis speculated that Hamas had been badly stung by the global reaction to the sight of emaciated Israeli hostages being released on Saturday (the president himself said that they reminded him of Holocaust survivors after the Second World War). Trump did not specify whether he meant noon on Saturday in Eastern time, or local time in Israel and Gaza. (Read More)