President-elect Trump has repeatedly warned that hell will break out in the Middle East if hostages kidnapped from Israel and held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip are not released by Inauguration Day on January 20th.
“It's not good for Hamas, and frankly it's not good for anyone,” Trump said at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago, Florida, mansion. “All hell is going to break out. I don't need to say it anymore, but it is what it is.”
President Trump's special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, said at the same press conference that significant progress had been made in efforts to free the approximately 100 hostages held in the Gaza Strip, adding that an agreement had been reached ahead of the inauguration. He said he hopes that.
Witkoff said he had just returned from talks on a hostage release agreement in Doha, Qatar, and planned to return to the region on Wednesday or Thursday.
“I believe we are on the brink of that. I don't want to discuss what has delayed it,” he said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier said he was hopeful the Biden administration could release the hostages and reach a cease-fire agreement before the end of his term as president.
