Donald Trump said if he were in Israel’s place, he would take a ‘hard stance’ on Gaza [Getty]
US President Donald Trump has threatened that he would take a “hard” stance on Gaza ahead of the captive exchange between Israel and Hamas on Saturday.
Speaking from the Oval Office on Friday, Trump said he was uncertain about the sixth exchange since the ceasefire agreement, due to take place at noon on Saturday.
He said: “I don’t know what’s going to happen at 12 o’clock. If it was up to me, I’d take a very hard stance. I can’t tell you what Israel is going to do.”
As part of the deal, Hamas already handed over three Israeli hostages to the Red Cross in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis in return for 369 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Trump previously threatened Hamas with “all hell” if the release of Israeli captives didn’t take place.
Earlier this week, he had suggested that the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas could be cancelled if all hostages held in Gaza were not released by Saturday.
“If all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday at 12 o’clock, I think it’s an appropriate time,” Trump said. “I would say, cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out.”
The ceasefire, in place since January 19, had temporarily halted Israel’s brutal offensive in Gaza, which has claimed more than 60,000 lives, predominantly women and children, and left the enclave utterly devastated.
Hamas had previously said it would postpone the release of hostages due to Israeli violations of the truce, but after mediation from Qatar and Egypt, the release proceeded as planned.
Trump also commented on the shifting positions of Hamas, noting that they initially hesitated to release the hostages but later reversed their stance.
“We didn’t hear anything, then all of a sudden, two days ago, they said, ‘No, we’ve decided we’re going to release the hostages,'” he added.
The comments come after Trump put forward a widely condemned proposal to take over Gaza and forcibly displace Palestinians to neighbouring countries like Egypt and Jordan, transforming the enclave into what he described as “the Riviera of the Middle East”.
This plan has been met with widespread outrage from across the Arab world and beyond. Countries including Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have united to block the proposal.
On Wednesday, Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit said the prospect of Palestinian displacement from Gaza and the West Bank – which he warned would follow – “is unacceptable for the Arab world, which has fought this idea for 100 years”.
