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.
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.”
“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.
