‘All hell will break out if hostages in Gaza are not freed': Donald Trump warns Hamas
Washington, Jan 8: US President-elect Donald Trump has warned that “all hell will break out in the Middle East” if the hostages being held by Hamas are not released by Inauguration Day.
Trump did not elaborate on what actions he might take if the captives are not released by the time he takes office.
Officials say about 100 hostages, including some Americans, who were seized on October 7, 2023, remain captive in Gaza, though they believe many of them may have died in captivity.
“All hell will break out. If those hostages aren’t back, I don’t want to hurt your negotiation, if they’re not back by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East,” Trump told reporters at a news conference in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
Trump will be sworn in on January 20 as the 47th President of the United States.
He was responding to a question on the status of negotiations with Hamas on the release of American hostages. His Special Envoy to the Middle East Steven Charles Witkoff, who has just returned from the region, told reporters that they are on the verge of it.
“I believe we’ve been on the verge of it. I don’t want to discuss sort of what’s delayed it, no point in being negative in any way. But I think it’s the president, his stature, what he’s said he expects, the red lines he’s put out there, that’s driving this negotiation,” Witkoff said.
Noting that they are making a lot of progress, he said: “I don’t want to say too much because I think they’re doing a really good job back in Doha. I’m leaving tomorrow to go back to Doha. But I think that we’ve had some really great progress and I’m really hopeful that by the inauguration we’ll have some good things to announce on behalf of the president.”
“I actually believe that we’re working in tandem in a really good way, but it’s the president, his reputation, the things that he has said that are driving this negotiation. So hopefully it’ll all work out and we’ll save some lives,” Witkoff said.
Negotiations between Hamas and Israel are ongoing in Qatar, with Hamas this week naming 34 hostages in Gaza — including two dual US citizens — it would be willing to release in a ceasefire deal, the National Public Radio reported.
Trump, in response to a question, warned Hamas to release all the hostages by January 20.
“It will not be good for Hamas and it will not be good frankly for anyone. All hell will break out. I don’t have to say anymore, but that’s what it is. They should have given them back a long time ago — they should have never taken them. There should have never been the attack of October 7th. People forget that, but there was and many people were killed,” he said.
“They’re no longer hostages. I have people from Israel and others calling, begging me to get — we also had people there from the United States just so you know. They’re holding some so-called hostages from the US, but I’ve had mothers come to me and fathers crying, can I get the body of their son back? Can I get the body of their daughter back?” he said.
“That beautiful girl where they threw her in the car, pulled her by her ponytail and threw her in the car like she was a sack of potatoes. I said, what happened to her? Sir, she’s dead. Like a 19, 20-year-old, beautiful girl. The way they treated her,” he said as he applauded his special envoy for the progress being made so far.
“I tell this, I don’t want to hurt the negotiation. If the deal isn’t done before I take office, which is now going to be two weeks, all hell will break out in the Middle East,” Trump said.
The Biden administration has unsuccessfully tried to help broker a ceasefire in Gaza for well over a year. The first ceasefire – weeks after the October 7 attack – saw the release of dozens of hostages, but subsequent efforts to pause the fighting and secure the release of additional hostages have gone nowhere.
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President Trump wants to impose 15% tariff, up from 10% he announced after Supreme Court decision
Washington (AP): President Donald Trump said Saturday that he was raising the global tariff he wants to impose to 15 per cent, up from 10 per cent he had announced a day earlier.
Trump said in a social media post on that he was making the decision “Based on a thorough, detailed, and complete review of the ridiculous, poorly written, and extraordinarily anti-American decision on Tariffs issued yesterday,” by the US Supreme Court.
After the court ruled he didn't have the emergency power to impose many sweeping tariffs, Trump signed an executive order on Friday night that enabled him to bypass Congress and impose a 10 per cent tax on imports from around the world. The catch is that those tariffs would be limited to just 150 days, unless they are extended legislatively.
Trump's post significantly ratcheting up a global tax on imports to the US yet again was the latest sign that despite the court's check, the Republican president was intent on continuing to wield in an unpredictable manner his favourite tool to for the economy and to apply global pressure. Trump's shifting announcements over the last year that he was raising and sometimes lowering tariffs with little notice jolted markets and rattled nations.
Saturday's announcement seemed to a be a sign that Trump intends to use the temporary global tariffs to continue to flex.
“During the next short number of months, the Trump Administration will determine and issue the new and legally permissible Tariffs, which will continue our extraordinarily successful process of Making America Great Again,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social media network.
Under the order Trump signed Friday night, the 10 per cent tariff was scheduled to take effect starting February 24. The White House did not immediately respond to a message inquiring when the president would sign an updated order.
In addition to the temporary tariffs that Trump wants to set at 15 per cent, the president said Friday that he was also pursuing tariffs through other sections of federal law which require an investigation by the Commerce Department.
Trump made an unusually personal attack on the Supreme Court judges who ruled against him in a 6-3 vote, including two of those he appointed during his first term, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett. Trump, at a news conference on Friday, said of the two justices: “I think it's an embarrassment to their families."
He was still seething Friday night, posting on social media complaining about Gorsuch, Coney Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts, who ruled with the majority and wrote the majority opinion. On Saturday morning, Trump issued another post declaring that his “new hero” was Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who wrote a 63-page dissent. He also praised Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, who were in the minority, and said of the three dissenting justices: "There is no doubt in anyone's mind that they want to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
