Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said during a press conference that progress has been made on a hostage deal.
President-elect Donald Trump reiterated on Jan. 7 his warning that the hostages being held in Gaza by terrorist group Hamas had better be released by Jan. 20.
“If those hostages aren’t back … by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East,” he said during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
“And it will not be good for Hamas. And it will not be good frankly for anyone.”
Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said during the press conference that progress has been made on a hostage deal. He announced an upcoming visit this week to Qatar, which has been a part of the negotiations.
“We’re making a lot of progress, and I don’t want to say too much because I think they’re doing a really good job back in Doha. I’m leaving tomorrow to go back to Doha, but I think that we’ve had some really great progress, and I’m really hopeful that by the inaugural, we’ll have some good things to announce on behalf of the president,” Witkoff said.
“We’re working in tandem in a really good way, but it’s the president, his reputation, the things that he has said, that are driving this negotiation, and so hopefully it’ll all work out and we’ll save some lives.”
In a Dec. 2 post on Truth Social, Trump warned that if Hamas—which took more than 200 hostages during its attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023—does not release those in captivity in Gaza by Inauguration Day, “there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against humanity.”
“Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied history of the United States of America,” he wrote.
Trump did not specify whether the United States would use military force. In his Jan. 7 remarks, he declined to go into detail about how he would enforce his threat.
On Dec. 31, Trump appeared to walk back the deadline for getting the hostages released when he said, “They better let the hostages come back soon.” He did not specify when.
However, Trump appeared to go back to his initial demand during his Jan. 7 press conference.
There has been only one exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners. This occurred in November 2023, as Hamas released 105 hostages in exchange for 210 Palestinian prisoners.