With hostage deal negotiations stuck once again, Trump renews warning to Hamas: ‘Release them soon’

Despite a concerted push by the United States and the Arab mediators that appeared to have yielded significant progress in negotiations for a deal in which Hamas would release the Israeli hostages in return for a ceasefire, the talks have once again reached an impasse as the inauguration of the Trump administration is fast approaching.

The end of the Biden administration’s term on Jan. 20 has been set as a deadline to reach the long-sought-after second ceasefire deal in the current war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

This would have enabled U.S. President Joe Biden to leave the office with a last success, while President-elect Donald Trump would take over with one less problem on his hands.

When reporters asked about a hostage deal during a New Year’s Eve party at his Mar-a-Lago Estate in Florida on Tuesday, Trump replied: “Let me put it this way. They [Hamas] better let the hostages come back soon.”

Despite U.S. officials expressing significant optimism early in the talks after Hamas appeared to have lifted some longstanding demands, the terror group now reportedly again insists on Israel committing to end the war permanently, while also claiming it is unable to produce a list of the hostages it currently holds.

According to The Wall Street Journal, mediators from Egypt and Qatar said Israel continues to insist on receiving living hostages first, instead of the bodies of hostages who are already deceased and has refused demands to free certain “heavy” veteran terrorists in exchange.

Kan News reported that Hamas refused to release 12 out of a list of 34 hostages that Israel demanded to be released in the first phase. The group offered to release 12 bodies instead.

“We are continuing to work on this as hard as we can to try to get a cease-fire deal in place before we leave office,” the National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby said last Friday. “It is because of Hamas throwing up obstacles or refusing to move on any of these details that we are still not at a conclusion,” he added.

Before undergoing prostate removal surgery, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said that Hamas was to blame for the lack of progress, accusing it of reverting to prior demands and constantly “changing direction.”

Hamas has not yet provided a detailed list of all the hostages and their conditions, which Israel has demanded as a precondition to signing any deal.

On Tuesday, a senior Hamas official told the Saudi Al-Sharq news outlet that the terror group demands more time and the withdrawal of Israeli drones over Gaza to be able to contact the different groups holding the remaining hostages and to collect detailed information about them.

According to the Saudi newspaper Asharq al-Awsat, Hamas also informed the mediators that it could only begin releasing hostages several days after the start of a ceasefire due to strict protocols of security and secrecy among the groups holding the hostages.

In response to the latest reports, the Tikva Forum, a group of hostage families that is more hawkish than the main Hostages and Missing Families Forum, demanded the government stop negotiations and ramp up military pressure.

“Hamas wants to release a small amount of hostages in exchange for a week-long cease-fire that will allow it to rehabilitate, booby-trap houses and alleys and better hide most of the hostages, who will remain with it.”

“It should not be surprising that Hamas is once again taunting us if we continue to ask for negotiations and are seen as weak because we are requesting them,” the statement read.

“We demand that the Israeli government announce the cessation of contacts and the deployment of another division into Gaza that will completely occupy the northern part of the Strip, drain the population to the south and control food and fuel. The hostages don’t have time for fruitless negotiations that only endanger them!”

“Only charging a higher price from Hamas will return the kidnapped.”