By Crispian Balmer and Nidal al-Mughrabi
JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) – Israeli leaders hailed on Tuesday a pledge by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump that there would be “hell to pay” in the Middle East unless hostages held in the Gaza Strip were released ahead of his Jan. 20 inauguration.
The reaction in Gaza was less enthusiastic.
Writing on Truth Social, and without naming any group, Trump said the hostages had to be freed by the time he was sworn in.
If his demand was not met, he said: “Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America.”
During their deadly 2023 attack on Israel, Hamas-led militants captured more than 250 people. Some have been released or freed but around half of them are still in Gaza, although at least a third of these are believed to be dead.
Israeli ministers lined up to thank Trump for his hard-hitting words.
“How refreshing it is to hear clear and morally sound statements that do not create a false equivalence or call for addressing ‘both sides’, but rather clarify who are the good and who are the bad,” said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
“This is the way to bring back the hostages: by increasing the pressure and the costs for Hamas and its supporters, and defeating them, rather than giving in to their absurd demands.”
Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said simply on X: “Thank you President Trump”.
Likewise the families of the missing hostages expressed their gratitude. “It is now evident to all: the time has come. We must bring them home NOW,” the families forum said.
NEGOTIATIONS STALLED
Israel and Hamas have held on-off negotiations since October 2023, but after an initial hostage release in November, little progress has been made with both sides blaming each other.
Responding to Trump’s post, senior Hamas official Basem Naim said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had sabotaged all efforts to secure a deal that involved exchanging the hostages for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons.
“Therefore, we understand (Trump’s) message is directed first at Netanyahu and his government to end this evil game,” he told Reuters.
Gaza political analyst Ramiz Moghani said Trump’s threat was directed at both Hamas and its backer Iran, and warned that it would embolden Israel to not expel Palestinians from swathes of Gaza but also annex the nearby, Israeli-occupied West Bank.
“These statements have serious implications for the Israeli war in Gaza and the West Bank,” he told Reuters.
Mohammed Dahlan, like hundreds of thousands of Gazans, has had to flee his house because of the fighting and is desperate for the war to end. But he said he was shocked by Trump.
“We were hoping that the new administration would bring with it a breakthrough …. but it seems (Trump) is in complete agreement with the Israeli administration and that there are apparently more punitive measures ahead,” he said.
(Additional reporting by Hatem Khaled in Gaza and Steven Scheer in Jerusalem, editing by Ed Osmond)
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