Trump’s ultimatum is directed at Hamas, but it’s also a direct rebuke of Netanyahu
US president openly rejects the phased framework for the hostages’ release — an approach initiated by the PM, who sought to avoid confrontation with the far right
Shalom Yerushalmi is the political analyst for Zman Israel, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew current affairs website
US President Donald Trump’s unusual warning — that Hamas should have until Saturday at noon to release all of the hostages, or else “let hell break out” — became the basis for Israel’s security cabinet meeting on Tuesday. But it was also, in effect, a public rebuke of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Seated behind his desk in the Oval Office on Monday, facing a large group of journalists, Trump was plainly furious about the phased approach to the hostage deal, which was initiated and promoted by Netanyahu.
“All of them,” Trump emphasized, regarding the imperative to urgently free the hostages. “Not in drips and drabs, not two and one and three and four and two.” With this declaration, the president aligned himself with the hostages’ families who protested outside the Prime Minister’s Office on Tuesday, calling, “All of them, now!”
It is unclear whether Trump’s threat will ultimately serve the interests of the hostages’ families, but it certainly serves Bezalel Smotrich.
“We are working on Trump’s migration plan [for all Gazans to be permanently relocated from Gaza],” said the finance minister, head of the far-right Religious Zionism party, on Tuesday. “Gaza will be part of the State of Israel. We have Trump’s backing. Hamas needs to be told — every hostage you execute, we annex another 5% of the Strip.” Smotrich reiterated his stance in the security cabinet meeting as well, and proposed a speedy return to intensive fighting.
With Trump’s words ringing in their ears, the security cabinet members convened for some four hours. Ministers on their way to the meeting could hear the pleas of the hostages’ families rallying outside, including Einav Zanguaker, whose son Matan is held by Hamas and is not scheduled to be released in the ongoing first stage of the ceasefire deal.
The cabinet had originally been set to discuss the current hostage deal, but instead was forced to align itself with Israel’s true prime minister, President Trump.
The discussion — and especially the announcements formulated and released one after another after the meeting ended — illustrated how Israel’s political leadership is now tiptoeing through the raindrops falling from Washington.
Trump has now rejected the phased deal that he and his Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff pushed through. This cumbersome approach had been initiated by Netanyahu, who sought to avoid confrontation with Smotrich and former minister Itamar Ben Gvir — both of whom have threatened to bring down Netanyahu’s coalition if the war ends without Hamas being vanquished.
The formula for the hostages’ release deal should have been “full release in exchange for full withdrawal,” but Netanyahu chose to drag out the negotiations, and some of his ministers have stated that there will be no second phase at all.
US President Donald Trump speaks with reporters at the Oval Office about the hostages held by Hamas, 11 February 2025
We now see the unbearable consequences of the “drips and drabs” of releases every week. The hostages’ families are beside themselves. And Trump has lost patience.
The statements released after the security cabinet meeting were aimed at aligning with Trump, who on Tuesday doubled down on his ultimatum.
First, an Israeli official said that the security cabinet “unanimously” backed Trump’s call for hostages to be released Saturday, in carefully worded Hebrew comments that stopped short of a complete endorsement of the US president’s position, and notably did not refer to “all” hostages.
Next, another source declared that the cabinet expects the release of “all nine hostages… in the coming days.” There are 17 hostages still set to return during the current first phase of the ceasefire, nine of whom are believed to be alive.
Netanyahu himself then released a video (in Hebrew), in which he declared: “If Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon, the ceasefire will end, and the IDF will return to intense fighting until Hamas is finally defeated.” The prime minister also, notably, refrained from specifying “all” hostages.
But then, about an hour later, a “high-ranking government source” announced that Israel was, in fact, demanding the release of all of the hostages — just as Trump had stated. “Prime Minister Netanyahu and the cabinet are sticking to US President Trump’s message about the release of hostages,” this official said. “That is, that all of them will go out on Shabbat.”
The stakes kept rising.
The military expressed its displeasure with this web of threats, which only complicates the hostage deal and the fate of those still held in captivity. Unnamed security sources were quoted late Tuesday as saying Israel should do its utmost to complete the implementation of phase one, and get out as many hostages as possible.
Hamas subsequently signaled that it was not interested in renewing the war — without specifying that it would unfreeze the suspension of hostage releases it had declared on Monday — but this is an unpredictable and irrational terror organization. Given what has been transpiring in Washington and Jerusalem, it’s not clear that we ourselves are acting with sound judgment.
Some cabinet ministers believe that Trump’s ultimatum will work — one minister even referred to Trump as “the Messiah’s deputy” — and, at the very least, Hamas will resume releasing hostages according to the phase one terms. Trump himself, by contrast, assessed later Tuesday, when hosting Jordan’s King Abdullah, that Hamas will not release all remaining hostages by his deadline.
In a conversation with The Times of Israel, one cabinet minister said: “The threat approach works. Hamas is now backing down, King Abdullah is aligning with Trump’s demands, and Iran is silent. This is the language of the Middle East. I am convinced we will see three hostages released this coming Saturday, maybe even more.”
