US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Hamas should release all hostages held by the militant group in Gaza by midday Saturday or he would propose cancelling the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and "let hell break out."
Trump cautioned that Israel might want to override him on the issue and said he might speak to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
But in a wide-ranging session with reporters in the Oval Office, Trump expressed frustration with the condition of the last group of hostages freed by Hamas and by the announcement by the militant group that it would halt further releases.
"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 said.
He said he wanted the hostages released en masse, instead of a few at a time. "We want 'em all back."
Trump also said he might withhold aid to Jordan and Egypt if they don't take Palestinian refugees being relocated from Gaza. He is to meet Jordan's King Abdullah on Tuesday.
Hamas suspends Gaza hostage release
Earlier on Tuesday, Palestinian militant group Hamas said it would stop releasing Israeli hostages until further notice over what it said were Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement.
In reply, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said Hamas had violated the ceasefire agreement with its announcement and that he had instructed the military to prepare at the highest level of readiness in the Gaza Strip and to defend Israeli communities.
Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for Hamas's military wing, said that since the ceasefire came into effect on 19 January, Israel had delayed allowing displaced Palestinians from returning to the northern part of the Gaza Strip, targeted Gazans with military shelling and gunfire and had stopped relief materials entering the territory.
The ceasefire has largely held over the past three weeks although there have been some incidents where Palestinians have been killed by Israeli gunfire.
The flow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip has increased since the ceasefire, aid agencies say.
Ubaida said Hamas would not release any more hostages until Israel "complies and compensates for the past weeks".
Another exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners was scheduled to take place on Saturday.
So far, 16 of the 33 hostages to be released in the first 42-day phase of the deal have come home, as well as five Thai hostages who were returned in an unscheduled release.
In exchange, Israel has released hundreds of prisoners and detainees, ranging from prisoners serving life sentences for deadly attacks to Palestinians detained during the war and held without charge.
But Hamas has accused Israel of dragging its feet on allowing aid into the enclave, one of the conditions of the first phase of the agreement, a charge Israel has rejected as untrue.
In turn, Israel has accused Hamas of not respecting the order in which the hostages were to be released and of orchestrating abusive public displays before large crowds when they have been handed over to the Red Cross.
Palestinians will not have a right to return, Trump says
Trump's statements that Palestinians should be moved out of the Gaza Strip, leaving the coastal enclave to be developed as a waterfront real estate project under US control have up-ended expectations for the postwar future.
Fox News on Monday released an excerpt of an interview with Trump.
Asked about the plan and whether Palestinians would have the right of return, he answered: "No, they wouldn't, because they're going to have much better housing".
"I'm talking about building a permanent place for them because if they have to return now, it'll be years before you could ever — it's not habitable."
In a shock announcement on 4 February after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, , redeveloping it into the "Riviera of the Middle East."
Israel has bombarded Gaza for 15 months following Hamas' 7 October 2023 attack in which some 1,200 people were killed and over 200 hostages taken, according to the Israeli government. More than 47,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7, according to the health ministry in Gaza.
The October 7 attack was a significant escalation in the long-standing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
