Trump Vows There’ll Be ‘Hell to Pay’ If Oct. 7 Hostages Not Freed by Time of His Inauguration

Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump speaks to supporters during a campaign event at the Rocky Mount Event Center in Rocky Mount, N.C., on Oct. 30, 2024. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

President-elect Donald Trump threatened severe consequences if hostages held in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023, are not released by the time he takes office on Jan. 20, 2025.

“Everybody is talking about the hostages who are being held so violently, inhumanely, and against the will of the entire World, in the Middle East—But it’s all talk, and no action!” Trump said in a Dec. 2 post on his Truth Social media account.

“Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that if the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity.”

Hamas, a U.S.- and Israeli-designated terrorist organization, launched attacks across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and took about 250 people hostage.

Hamas agreed to release about 100 of the hostages in November 2023 as part of a week-long cease-fire agreement. Israeli forces have also recovered a few more of the hostages through military operations over the past year. About 100 hostages remain in Gaza, as negotiations for a permanent cease-fire and full hostage release have faltered.

On Nov. 30, Hamas published a 3 1/2-minute video purporting to show recent footage of Israeli American Edan Alexander pleading for his freedom and the freedom of other hostages after being held for about 420 days in Gaza.

Just hours before Trump’s Truth Social post, the Israeli military concluded that one of its soldiers, 21-year-old Israeli American Omer Neutra, had been killed during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack and that Hamas has continued to hold onto his remains ever since.

“Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America,” Trump’s Dec. 2 message said. “Release the hostages now!” he added, using all caps.

Upon announcing a cease-fire deal in Lebanon last week, President Joe Biden vowed that his administration would make a renewed push—alongside Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, and Israel—to reach a cease-fire agreement for the Gaza Strip before the end of his term in January.

“Far too many civilians in Gaza have suffered far too much. And Hamas has refused, for months and months, to negotiate a good-faith cease-fire and a hostage deal,” Biden said in his Nov. 26 remarks on the Lebanon cease-fire.

The Gaza Health Ministry, which operates under the Hamas terrorist organization, assesses that more than 44,000 people have been killed and more than 105,000 have been injured in the Gaza Strip in the past year. The ministry does not differentiate between combatants and noncombatants, and exact casualty figures cannot be independently verified at this time.