 "'Very strong statement': Netanyahu backs Trump’s 'all hell to pay' warning on Gaza hostages")
A day after President-elect Donald Trump warned that there would be “hell to pay” if the hostages are not released by the time he takes office in January, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday thanked Trump for the “strong statement” made in a social media post.
“It is a very strong statement,” Times of Israel quoted Netanyahu as saying at a special cabinet meeting in the northern coastal city of Nahariya.
The statement “makes it clear that there is one party responsible for this situation — and that is Hamas. Hamas must release the hostages,” he added.
Netanyahu said Trump “put the emphasis in the right place — on Hamas, and not on the Israeli government, as is customary in some places.”
Protesters and some hostage families blame Netanyahu for not doing enough to reach a deal with Hamas to get the hostages out of Gaza.
“We will continue to do everything to release them, and whoever harms them will be killed,” he added.
On Monday, Trump threatened those holding hostages in the Middle East with unprecedented American firepower unless they are released before he takes office on January 20.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsTrump had previously made a similar threat as a presidential candidate at the Republican National Convention in July. However, his latest warning, posted on Truth Social, came two days after Hamas released a propaganda video showing American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander pleading with the president-elect for his release.
The statement also followed hours after the IDF confirmed that another American-Israeli hostage, Omer Neutra, was killed during Hamas’s October 7 attack, with his body still being held in Gaza. Neutra had previously been thought to be alive in captivity.
“Everybody is talking about the hostages who are being held so violently, inhumanely, and against the will of the entire World, in the Middle East – But it’s all talk and no action!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, without mentioning Israel or the Palestinian terror group by name.
“Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that if the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office 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 added.
Meanwhile, on the fragile ceasefire with Hezbollah, Netanyahu repeated the warning that the war with Hezbollah is not over.
“We are committed to a ceasefire, but we will also not tolerate violations of the ceasefire by the other side,” he said, a day after Hezbollah fired mortar shells at northern Israel and the IDF struck over 20 sites in Lebanon.
“I also say here in the clearest terms: We will not return to the situation that was on October 6, (2023),” he promisefd, referring to the day before the current multifront war began with Hamas’s onslaught on southern Israel.
“The north will be calm, the north will prosper, the north will flourish, and the north will be safe,” added Netanyahu.
With inputs from agencies
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