OAN Staff Blake Wolf
1:28 PM – Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that if Hamas does not return all of the remaining hostages by Saturday, the cease-fire deal would end and Israel would return to commencing its war efforts in Gaza.
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Netanyahu’s comments were in response to Hamas announcing on Monday that they would not be releasing any more hostages, claiming that Israel was violating the terms of the ceasefire agreement.
“If Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon – the ceasefire will end and the IDF will return to intense fighting until Hamas is finally defeated,” Netanyahu declared.
Netanyahu’s comments follow after President Donald Trump warned on Monday that “all hell is going to break out” if Hamas does not release “all” of the remaining hostages by Saturday.
“If they’re not returned, all of them – not in drips and drabs, not two and one and three and four and two. Saturday at 12 o’clock. And after that, I would say all hell is going to break out,” Trump stated, adding that “Hamas will find out what I mean.”
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri responded on Tuesday, stating: “Trump must remember there is an agreement that must be respected by both parties, and this is the only way to bring back the (Israeli) prisoners. The language of threats has no value and only complicates matters.”
Hamas officials have claimed, with their only proof coming from the Palestinian Ministry of Health, which is controlled by the terrorist group and has been caught skewing the number of Palestinian deaths previously, that Israel was allegedly violating the terms of the ceasefire by “continuing attacks” while also blocking some aid deliveries into Gaza.
Nevertheless, President Trump has still expressed that he is “committed” to taking over Gaza in order to rebuild from its destruction, asserting: “We’ll build beautiful communities for the 1.9 million people” of Gaza.
Trump has also called for Egypt and Jordan to take in Palestinians as soon as Gaza becomes a “demolition sight.”
However, the Arab Muslim nations surrounding Gaza already rejected Trump’s proposal initially, not wanting to take in any refugees, especially not Palestinians. According to former U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker, the Palestinians have long been viewed with “fear and loathing” by nearly all Arab states due to their negative reputation as a people.
Despite the initial pushback to Trump’s proposal, Jordanian King Abdullah II visited Trump on Tuesday, shaking hands and stating that he would accept “2,000 sick children from Gaza” at the very least.
“One of the things that we can do right away is take 2,000 children that are either cancer children or in a very ill state to Jordan as quickly as possible,” the king stated during his visit with President Trump.
Trump continued, speaking on the U.S. owning Gaza: “We’re not going to buy anything. We’re going to have it. We’re going to keep it.”
“And we’re going to make sure that there’s going to be peace and there’s not going to be any problem, and nobody’s going to question it.”
Palestinians are “going to be where we ultimately choose as a group. And I believe we’ll have a parcel of land in Jordan. I believe we’ll have a parcel of land in Egypt. We may have someplace else, but I think when we finish our talks, we’ll have a place where they’re going to live very happily and very safely,” the president concluded.
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