United States President Donald Trump has asked Israel to cancel its ceasefire deal with Hamas and "let all hell break out" if Hamas does not return hostages still being held in Gaza by noon on Saturday.
On Monday, Hamas threatened to postpone the next hostage release scheduled to take place on Saturday "until further notice," accusing Israel of breaking the ceasefire deal.
"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," the president told reporters in the Oval Office after signing executive actions.
"I'd say they ought to be returned by 12 o'clock on Saturday, and 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," he added
When asked about on what kind of 'hell' he was talking about, Trump said, "You’ll find out, and they'll find out -- Hamas will find out what I mean."
"I am speaking for myself. Israel can override it, but from myself, Saturday at 12 o'clock, and if they're not -- they're not here, all hell is going to break out," he added.
Trump earlier compared the released hostages to Holocaust survivors, a video shared by the White House Monday noted.
In the video, Trump said, "Hamas has been a disaster. By the way, I have to tell you that I watched the hostages come back today and they looked like Holocaust survivors. They were in horrible condition. They were emaciated."
Trump further added, "How much longer we can take that when I watch that? I know we have a deal where we're supposed to get, they dribble in and keep dribbling in, but they are in really bad shape. They have been treated brutally, horribly. Even the ones that came out earlier, they were in a little bit better shape, but mentally they were treated so badly. Who could take that? You know, at some point we're going to lose our patience. When I see that scene that I saw today with people coming out of helicopters and airplanes that are emaciated that look like they haven't had a meal in a month. No reason for that."
In his remarks, Trump said, "I don't know how much longer we can take it. I don't know how long we can take it. When I watch people that were healthy people a reasonably short number of years ago and you look at them today, they look like they've aged 25 years. They literally look like the old pictures of Holocaust survivors, the same thing. I mean, the same thing. I don't know how long we're going to take that."
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