On Wednesday, February 12, 2025 at 01:16:48 AM GMT+5, Chas Freeman via Salon <salon@listserve.com> wrote:
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-02-11/ty-article/.premium/trump-gaza-ceasefire-should-end-saturday-if-hostages-not-released/00000194-f21a-d3a7-a1fc-fb7eb7130000
'Let Hell Break Out': Trump Says Gaza Cease-fire Should End Saturday if All Israeli Hostages Not Released - Israel News - Haaretz.com
Ben Samuels Feb 11, 2025
WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump warned Monday that if Hamas does not release the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza by 12:00 P.M., Israel should withdraw from the current fragile cease-fire.
He further said Israel should "let all hell break loose" and that he may withhold aid to Egypt and Jordan if they do not absorb displaced Palestinians.
The president said, "it's Israel's decision but as far as I'm concerned, if all of the hostages are returned by Saturday at 12 o'clock, I think it's appropriate time, I would say, cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out."
"It's time to come up with a date," Trump added. "We're going to do keep-up every week, two people, three people? I don't think you can do that anymore. These are seriously endangered people, I don't think they're going to last very long."
"These people have been badly hurt. They've been interviewed by our representatives. They've been interviewed by Israeli representatives. And they're really hurting. They are really hurting mentally and physically. And I think Hamas is looking at that and say, well, it's not going to get much better."
Those comments came after Trump said in an interview with Fox News that Palestinians in Gaza would not have a right to return under his plan for U.S. "ownership" of the war-torn territory - contradicting other officials in his administration who have sought to argue Trump was only calling for the temporary relocation of its population.
Trump further lamented the cruelty of Hamas toward the hostages - specifically highlighting the significant weight loss from Eli Sharabi and the fact that he was unaware that his wife and children were killed on October 7.
On Sunday, he said that, "I watched the hostages come back and they looked like Holocaust survivors. They were in horrible condition, they were emaciated. It looked like many years ago, the Holocaust survivors," he said on Air Force One en route to the Super Bowl.
Eli Sharabi at Sheba Medical Center on Saturday.Credit: Haim Tzah / GPO
"I don't know how much longer we can take that when i watch that. I know we have a deal where they're supposed to dribble in and keep dribble in, but they are in really bad shape. even the ones that came out early were in a bit better shape but mentally they were treated so badly. Who could take that? At some point we're gonna lose our patience," he continued, as his negotiators continue to mediate efforts to transition to the deal's second stage.
"When I see that scene i saw today," he continued. "They look like they haven't had a meal in a month. No reason for that. I don't know how much longer we can take it. When I watch people that were healthy people a short number of years ago, you look at them today and they look like they aged 25 years. They look like holocaust survivors. The same thing," he added.
The most recent batch of freed Israeli hostages caused significant alarm about the state of the rest of the hostages, with the three freed hostages — Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami — appearing gaunt and malnourished.
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