From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, January 7, 2025
Trump: All hell will break loose in Mideast if no deal; it won’t be good for anyone
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
US President-elect Donald Trump triples down on his threat that “all hell will break out” if the hostages in Gaza are not returned by his January 20 inauguration.
“All hell will break out in the Middle East, and it will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good — frankly —for anyone,” Trump says during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
He reiterates that Hamas should have returned the hostages a long time ago, and that it should never have taken them in the first place or carried out an attack on October 7 at all.
Trump recalls phone calls he has received from the parents of Israeli-American hostages pleading with him to help secure the release of their child’s body. Apparently referring to slain former hostage Shani Louk, he highlights how Hamas fighters abducted a woman during the onslaught. “That beautiful girl… they… pulled her by her ponytail and threw her in the car like she was a sack of potatoes.”
After calling up his incoming Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff to provide an update on the hostage negotiations, Trump hails him as a well-respected negotiator.
“We have people that know everything about the Middle East, but they can’t speak properly… This is a great negotiator. That’s what I need,” Trump says of Witkoff.
