The president’s most recent threat in this context came last Monday, a day after Hamas made a threat of its own: that it would not release the three hostages scheduled for the sixth tranche if Israel did not allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, including mobile homes.
After hearing that, Trump again issued a threat, saying that if all the hostages were not released by Saturday at noon, the ceasefire should be canceled and “let all hell break out.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials pounced upon that threat.
Not to be outflanked by Trump, Netanyahu issued a threat of his own after convening the security cabinet, saying,
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“The decision I passed in the cabinet, unanimously, is this: If Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon, 1. the ceasefire will end, 2. and the IDF will resume intense fighting until Hamas is decisively defeated.”
What ensued was difficult to follow, with various officials giving differing interpretations of whether Netanyahu’s threat referred to, 1. all the hostages, as Trump said, 2. or only to the three that were to be released on Saturday 3. or the nine living hostages to be released under the first phase of the ceasefire deal.
