President-elect Donald Trump warned on Saturday that the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement “better hold,” otherwise “all hell will break out.”
“Well, we’re going to see very soon, and it better hold,” Trump said during an interview with NBC News.
Trump said he had told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “Just keep doing what you have to do. You have to have—this has to end. We want it to end, but to keep doing what has to be done.”
The US president-elect, who will be inaugurated on Monday, said he would meet with Netanyahu “fairly shortly.”
The ceasefire was set to come into effect at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, with the first three hostages to be freed sometime after 4 p.m.
“Respect. The United States has to get respected again, and it has to get respected fast. But respect is the primary word that I use,” Trump said. “If they respect us, [the truce] will hold. If they don’t respect us, all hell will break out.”
Netanyahu said on Saturday night that Trump has given Jerusalem full backing to resume the war if talks with Hamas on the second phase of the ceasefire agreement prove futile.
The deal “is the result of Israel’s cooperation with the outgoing administration of President [Joe] Biden and the incoming administration of President Trump,” said Netanyahu.
“As soon as he was elected, President Trump joined the mission of freeing the hostages. He talked to me on Wednesday night. He praised the agreement and rightly emphasized that the first step of the agreement is a temporary ceasefire. This is what he said—‘a temporary ceasefire,’” the prime minister continued.
Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday night with Trump and thanked him for his help forging the agreement.
“The prime minister made it clear that he is committed to returning all of the hostages however he can and commended the US president-elect for his remarks that the US would work with Israel to ensure that Gaza will never be a haven for terrorism,” according to a statement from Jerusalem.
Incoming US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said on Wednesday that the Trump administration will support renewed Israeli military action against Hamas if the terrorist group violates the terms of the ceasefire.
“We’ve made it very clear to the Israelis, and I want the people of Israel to hear me on this—if they need to go back in, we’re with them. If Hamas doesn’t live up to the terms of this agreement, we are with them,” the Republican representative from Florida’s 6th District told Fox News.
“Hamas is not going to continue as a military entity and it certainly is not going to govern Gaza,” he added.