US President-elect Donald Trump gestures while delivering a speech at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, USA on January 7, 2025.
Carlos Barria | Reuters
President-elect Donald Trump warned Tuesday that “all hell will break loose in the Middle East” if Hamas does not release its hostages held in Gaza by his inauguration on January 20.
“And it won’t be good for Hamas and it won’t be good for anyone, frankly,” Trump said at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.
“We want to get these hostages back for Israel and for us,” Trump said.
“You know, we have people being held hostage,” he said. “And I’ll say it again: If this deal isn’t made with the people who represent our nation by the time I take office, all hell will break loose.”
Trump gave no indication of what action he would take if the hostages were not released.
Nearly 100 hostages are believed to still be held captive in Gaza, although some of these people are believed to be dead.
Hamas on Monday released a list containing the names of 34 hostages that the group said it was willing to release in the first phase of a possible ceasefire deal with Israel.
Trump reiterated his warning as Steve Witkoff, his designated Middle East envoy, told reporters that there had been “great progress” in negotiations in Doha, Qatar, to secure the release of hostages held during the deadly attack of the terrorist group on October 7, 2023, incursion into Israel.
“I think we were close,” Witkoff said after Trump spotted him in the back of the room and called him to the podium to speak.
Witkoff said he expected to fly back to Doha on Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning.
It was unclear what role Witkoff played in the talks because Trump doesn't take office for another two weeks and Witkoff is not officially a U.S. government representative.
Earlier on Tuesday, Hamas said it stood by its demand that Israel completely halt military operations against Gaza as part of an agreement to release the hostages.
Israel, in turn, says the war will continue until the hostages are released and Hamas is crushed, according to the Reuters news service.
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“I don’t want to say too much” about the status of the talks in Doha, Witkoff said.
But he added: “I'm really confident that we can announce some really good things on behalf of the president at the inauguration.”
He credited Trump's “reputation, the things he's said” for “driving the negotiations forward.”
“I think they heard it loud and clear and need to be ready by the inauguration,” Witkoff said.
“Hopefully everything works out and we save some lives,” he added.
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