WASHINGTON
US President Donald Trump proposed the cancelation of the Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas if all the hostages in the Strip are not released by Saturday at noon.
"As far as I'm concerned, if all of the hostages aren't returned by Saturday at 12 o'clock -- I think it's an appropriate time -- I would say, cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out. I'd say they ought to be returned by 12 o'clock on Saturday,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday.
"And if they're not returned -- all of them, not in drips and drabs, not two and one and three and four and two – Saturday at 12 o'clock. And after that, I would say, all hell is going to break out," he added.
Trump said he thinks a lot of the hostages are "dead."
"I would say, Saturday at 12, we want them all back. I'm speaking for myself. Israel can override it, but from myself, Saturday at 12 o'clock, and if they're not here, all hell is going to break out," he warned.
Responding to a question about an American hostage still being held in Gaza, Trump said it is time to release everybody.
"They're not going to be alive right now, based on what I saw over the last two days. They're not going to be for long. Saturday at 12 o'clock, and after that, it's going to be a different ball game," he said.
Asked whether he meant retaliation from Israel when he said "all hell will break out," he said: "You’ll find out, and they’ll find out too. Hamas will find out what I mean...These are sick people, and they’ll find out what I mean Saturday at 12."
On whether he could rule out any US involvement after the Saturday deadline, he said: “We’ll see what happens.”
He also said he will consider cancelling aid to Jordan and Egypt if they do not accept Palestinians being relocated from Gaza.
"Yeah, maybe. Sure, why not? If they don’t, I would conceivably withhold aid, yes," he said.
Asked how he will convince Jordan’s king to take in more Palestinians, Trump said: "I do think he'll take, and I think other countries will take also. They have good hearts."
Trump is expected to meet with Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Tuesday in Washington, DC amid heightened regional tensions, particularly over the president’s proposal to relocate Gazans to Jordan and Egypt, which has drawn sharp criticism.
- Gaza is 'a hell hole right now'
"We’ve spoken to a lot of Palestinians. They would love to leave Gaza if they could find a place to be. And I've spoken to various leaders of various countries in the not so distant area from where we're talking about, the Gaza Strip, and I think they were very positive about providing land...and if we could build a nice place for people to live safely, everybody in Gaza would do it.
"They've been persecuted. They've been spit on, they've been treated like trash. And they would love to get out of Gaza. But until now, they've never had an alternative. Now they have an alternative. And as far as Hamas is concerned, you're seeing the real Hamas," Trump said.
The president said that Palestinians are all going to leave when they have a "nice place that's safe."
"It's a hell hole right now," he added.
Turning to the occupied West Bank, Trump said he has "no plans" to move them.
"Right now they're there, and I assume they want to remain there. It's different. They're there. It's never been like what we're talking about with the Gaza Strip," he added.
On Monday, the Palestinian group Hamas declared that it had fully met its commitments under the ceasefire deal but accused Israel of violating four key provisions. Earlier in the day, Hamas’s armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, announced that it postponed the next hostage release until Israel complies with all terms of the agreement.
The three-phase ceasefire deal has been in place in Gaza since Jan. 19, halting Israel’s genocidal war, which has killed more than 48,000 people and left the enclave in ruins.
In the first phase of the truce, which runs until early March, 33 Israeli hostages are to be released in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners. The sixth Israeli-Hamas swap was scheduled this week.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
