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Trump: Hamas ‘better let the hostages come back soon’ – or else

President-elect Trump reiterates his warning that Hamas will face serious consequences if it fails to release the hostages.

By World Israel News Staff

President-elect Donald Trump reiterated that Hamas will face serious consequences should they fail to release the hostages before he returns to office.

Speaking to a reporter during a New Year’s Eve party at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Trump confirmed that the terror group would be wise to free the 100 hostages it has been holding for more than a year, including seven Americans.

When a journalist asked if Trump stood behind his threats to the terror group, the incoming president doubled down on his previous warnings.

“I’ll put it this way: they better let the hostages come back soon,” Trump said.

Asked about a potential ceasefire between Hamas and Israel before he takes office, Trump said, “We’re gonna see what happens.”

Trump issued a stark threat to the Hamas terror group in early December via his Truth Social platform.

“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,” the post read.

Read  Hamas responsible for failure to reach ceasefire, hostage deal, says US

In December, Trump met with freed Israeli-American hostage Judith Ranaan on his golf course in Florida.

According to a summary of the meeting published by Bring Them Home Now on X, Ranaan’s main message to Trump was that she “trusts him.”

She also asked that Trump “do everything in his power to bring all the hostages home – the living for rehabilitation and the deceased for proper burial.”

Also in December, the daughter of two slain hostages slammed President Joe Biden and other world leaders, saying that Trump’s tweet threatening the Hamas terror group should have served as an example for the international community.

“All world leaders should have done on October 8, 2023, what Trump did in his tweet,” Iris Weinstein Haggai told the Times of Israel, referencing the president-elect’s pledge that there would be “hell to pay” for Hamas if they do not release the hostages in the near future.

Weinstein Haggai’s parents, who hold Israeli, American, and Canadian citizenship, were brutally murdered in the October 7 terror rampage.Their bodies were kidnapped by Hamas.

It’s unclear how many of the 100 hostages in captivity are still alive. At least 34 of the captives are confirmed to be dead.