Josh Marcus
The Independent / March 6, 2025
Roughly 60 hostages remain in Gaza – with 35 of them believed to be dead.
San Francisco – Donald Trump has threatened the people of Gaza alongside Hamas in what he calls a “last warning” to release the remaining Israeli hostages.
“This is your last warning! For the [Hamas] leadership, now is the time to leave Gaza, while you still have a chance,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Also, to the People of Gaza: A beautiful Future awaits, but not if you hold Hostages. If you do, you are DEAD! Make a SMART decision.”
“Release all of the Hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is OVER for you,” Trump added to Hamas, after meeting with six former hostages released under the recently expired ceasefire deal pausing the war.
“I am sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job, not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don’t do as I say,” he added, telling the group his post was a “last warning.”
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz had a similar message earlier this week, telling Hamas, “The gates of Gaza will be locked, and the gates of hell will open.”
The comments came as the initial stage of a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war expired over the weekend. The war began in the wake of a Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and another 251 people hostage.
Israel’s 16-month retaliatory offensive [sic] has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The U.S. has called on Hamas to accept an extension of the first stage of the ceasefire, involving hostage releases. There are 24 living hostages remaining in Gaza, including American citizen Edan Alexander, as well as the remains of 35 others, according to Israeli officials.
In the meantime, Israel has paused aid entering into Gaza and threatened the militant group with “additional consequences” if it doesn’t come around to the U.S. proposal.
Israel’s decision to cut off aid to the already besieged civilian population of Gaza has prompted international criticism from the UK, France and Germany.
Foreign ministers from the three countries said in a statement Wednesday that aid “should never be contingent on a ceasefire or used as a political tool”.
The White House said it has been conducting “ongoing talks and discussions” with Hamas officials.
“Look, dialogue and talking to people around the world to do what’s in the best interest of the American people is something that the president has proven is what he believes is [a] good faith effort to do what’s right for the American people,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a media briefing.
Trump proposes permanently displacing Palestinians in Gaza
The talks are the first known direct engagement with Hamas since the State Department declared the group an official foreign terrorist organization in 1997.
The issue of Gaza’s post-conflict governance remains to be determined, though Trump has proposed the U.S. occupying and rebuilding the territory while displacing its residents, a plan critics say amounts to ethnic cleansing.
The warnings from U.S. and Israeli officials come after Hamas provoked fury in Israel for returning remains that officials say were falsely attributed to Shiri Bibas, a mother who was kidnapped along with her children then killed in Hamas captivity.
The Israeli military claims militants killed Bibas, while Hamas says she died in an Israeli strike.
Josh Marcus serves as a Social Justice Reporter at The Independent
