On Wednesday, Trump issued what he said was a " last warning" to Hamas after meeting with eight former hostages. The White House meanwhile confirmed it had held unprecedented direct talks with the terrorist group.
“Release all of the Hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is OVER for you,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Only sick and twisted people keep bodies, and you are sick and twisted!”
Hamas is believed to still have 24 living hostages taken in the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of 1200 Israeli men, women and children that triggered the war, including Israeli-American Edan Alexander. It is also holding the bodies of 34 others who were either killed in the initial attack or in captivity, as well as the remains of a soldier killed in the 2014 war.
Hamas released 25 Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight more in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in the first, 42-day phase of the ceasefire, which ended on Saturday.
Hamas accused Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to back out of the ceasefire agreement they reached in January. The agreement calls for negotiations over a second phase in which the hostages would be released in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a permanent ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Israel supports what it says is a new U.S. plan for the second phase in which Hamas would release half the remaining hostages immediately and the rest when a permanent ceasefire is negotiated. Hamas has rejected the proposal and says it is sticking with the agreement signed in January.
It's unclear if the U.S.-Hamas talks made any progress. The Trump administration has pledged full support for Israel's main war goals of returning all the hostages and eradicating Hamas.
