February 16, 2025. 0055 Hrs.
Taking to his Truth Social platform, the US president vowed to back whatever decision Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu takes in response to the release of “just three hostages”.
US President Donald Trump slammed Hamas on Saturday for failing to meet his noon deadline to release “ALL HOSTAGES,” after the Palestinian militant group freed only three captives instead.
Taking to his Truth Social platform, Trump made it clear that the ball is now in Israel’s court, pledging full US support for any action Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decides to take.
“Hamas has just released three hostages from GAZA, including an American citizen. They seem to be in good shape! This differs from their statement last week that they would not release any hostages,” Trump posted. “Israel will now have to decide what they will do about the 12:00 O’CLOCK, TODAY, DEADLINE imposed on the release of ALL HOSTAGES. The United States will back the decision they make!”
Meanwhile, despite previously threatening to withhold captives, Hamas unexpectedly released three hostages on Saturday — Alexander Sasha Troufanov, Sagui Dekel Chen (a US-Israeli citizen), and Iair Horn.
Netanyahu had earlier echoed Trump’s demand, warning Hamas that failure to release all hostages by Saturday noon would mean the end of the ceasefire.
“If Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon, the ceasefire will end, and the IDF will resume intense fighting until Hamas is decisively defeated,” Netanyahu had declared earlier in the week, emphasising that the decision had unanimous backing from Israel’s cabinet.
Earlier this week, Trump had laid down an ultimatum, urging Israel to walk away from its ceasefire deal with Hamas if all hostages weren’t released by Saturday.
“As far as I’m concerned, if all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday at 12 o’clock – I think it’s an appropriate time – I would say, cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out. I’d say they ought to be returned by 12 o’clock on Saturday (1700 GMT) … And after that, I would say, all hell is going to break out,” Trump warned on Monday.
