BBC News
Getty imagesUS President Donald Trump expressed what he called a “last warning” to Hamas to release the hostages held in Gaza.
“I send Israel everything he needs to finish work, not a single member of Hamas will be safe if you don’t do what I say,” Trump said in a long post on his social platform Truth.
It comes a few hours after the White House confirmed that she was holding direct talks with Hamas on hostages.
Washington has so far avoided direct engagement with the group, and there is a long -standing American policy against direct contact with the entities it lists as terrorist organizations.
In his article on social networks, Trump said that there would be “hell to pay” if the hostages were not published, without specifying the nature of the support he sent Israel.
“Release all the hostages now, not later, and immediately return all the corpses of the people you have murdered, or it’s over for you,” he added.
“For leadership, it is now time to leave Gaza, when you still have a chance.”
He also seemed to threaten civilians: “Also, to the inhabitants of Gaza: a beautiful future awaits, but not if you hold hostages. If you do, you are dead!”
It’s not the first time that Trump has led Hamas. In December, he said that there would be “all hell to pay” If the hostages were not released when he took office.
The position intervened after Trump met a group of hostages at the White House which had recently been released under the ceasefire.
Meanwhile, the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that the United States had negotiated directly with Hamas to try to secure the release of hostages.
Israel had been consulted before the talks, she added.
President Trump believed that he was in the best interest of the American people, Leavitt told journalists.
The special envoy for hostages, Adam Boehler’s work was an “effort in good faith to do what is good for the American people,” she added.
“Two direct meetings” took place between Hamas and an American official, “several communications said,” a Palestinian source told the BBC.
Israel said that there were still 59 hostages detained in Gaza, with up to 24 that would be alive. American citizens are also among the captives.
News of talks was reported for the first time by AxiosWho declared that the two parties met in Qatar to discuss the release of the American hostages as well as a wider agreement to end the war.
A former US deputy secretary for Defense for the Middle East said that the United States had to be “more proactive” to recover its citizens.
Mick Mulroy, who is also a former CIA paramilitary officer, added that “this could complicate the ability of Israelis to recover their citizens if they are not closely coordinated”.
The office of the Israeli Prime Minister said in a statement that he had “expressed his position” concerning direct talks, but had not provided additional information.
According to reports, Boehler has met representatives of Hamas in the Qatari capital, Doha, in recent weeks.
Hamas has a base in Doha since 2012, apparently at the request of the Obama administration.
The state of the Gulf Petit but influential is a key American ally in the region. It welcomes a major American air base and has managed many delicate political negotiations, especially with Iran, the Taliban and Russia.
Alongside the United States and Egypt, Qatar also played a major role in talks to negotiate a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Additional report by Bernd Debusmann
