US President-elect Donald J. Trump has warned Hamas of serious consequences if captives held in Gaza are not released before his oath-taking on January 20 next year.
“If the hostages are not released before January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume 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 wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Trump, a staunch pro-Israel supporter, will assume charge as US president for the second term. During his first term in office, he advocated for strong support for Israel in the US.
Meanwhile, outgoing President Joe Biden has been providing all sorts of support to Israel, including weapons, the latest technology, logistics, and also Intel in their ongoing Gaza invasion.
Additionally, he also proposed to equip Israel with weapons and armament worth multi-hundred billion dollars in what he said was a move to strengthen the only democracy in the Middle East.
Israel is currently fighting Hamas in occupied Gaza, where its forces (IDF) have levelled approximately 90 per cent of the infrastructure, displacing over 1.7 million people internally, according to UN estimates.
The IDF has said that they are searching for the captives held in Gaza, although they failed to extract the remaining hundred-plus hostages.
After Trump’s warning, a Palestinian pastor in Bethlehem said he did not find anything amusing in his warning as Gaza is “already hell on earth." "Lord, have mercy!” Munther Isaac said in a post on X.
So far, 44,466 people have been killed in Gaza, following the October 7 Hamas assault in Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1163 people.
Subsequently, Hamas operatives also took 250 hostages, of whom 100 plus remain in their captivity.
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