{"id":569,"date":"2025-03-06T03:22:53","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T03:22:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/03\/06\/trump-issues-last-warning-to-hamas-to-release-all-remaining-hostages-held-in-gaza-the-associated-press\/"},"modified":"2025-03-06T03:22:53","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T03:22:53","slug":"trump-issues-last-warning-to-hamas-to-release-all-remaining-hostages-held-in-gaza-the-associated-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/03\/06\/trump-issues-last-warning-to-hamas-to-release-all-remaining-hostages-held-in-gaza-the-associated-press\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump issues \u2018last warning\u2019 to Hamas to release all remaining hostages held in Gaza – The Associated Press"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued what he called a \u201clast warning\u201d to Hamas to release all remaining hostages held in Gaza, directing a sharply worded message after the White House confirmed that he had recently dispatched an envoy for unprecedented direct talks with the militant group. <\/p>\n

Trump, in a statement on his Truth Social platform soon after meeting at the White House with eight former hostages, added that he was \u201csending Israel everything it needs to finish the job.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRelease 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,\u201d Trump said. \u201cOnly sick and twisted people keep bodies, and you are sick and twisted!\u201d<\/p>\n

The pointed language from Trump came after the White House said Wednesday that U.S. officials have engaged in \u201congoing talks and discussions\u201d with Hamas officials, stepping away from a long-held U.S. policy of not directly engaging in the militant group.<\/p>\n

Confirmation of the talks in the Qatari capital of Doha come as the Israel-Hamas ceasefire remains in the balance. It\u2019s the first known direct engagement between the U.S. and Hamas since the State Department designated the group a foreign terrorist organization in 1997.<\/p>\n

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to provide detail on the the substance of talks, but said President Donald Trump has authorized his envoys to \u201ctalk to anyone.\u201d Egyptian and Qatari intermediaries have served as mediators with Hamas for the U.S. and Israel since the group launched its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the war.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, dialogue and talking to people around the world to do what\u2019s in the best interest of the American people is something that the president … believes is a good-faith effort to do what\u2019s right for the American people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Leavitt added that Israel has been consulted about the direct engagement with Hamas officials, and noted that there are \u201cAmerican lives at stake.\u201d Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s office offered a terse acknowledgement of the U.S.-Hamas talks. \u201cIsrael has expressed to the United States its position regarding direct talks with Hamas,\u201d the prime minister\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n

Israeli officials say about 24 living hostages \u2014 including Edan Alexander, an American citizen \u2014 as well as the bodies of at least 35 others are believed to still be held in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Adam Boehler, Trump\u2019s nominee to be special envoy for hostage affairs, led the direct talks with Hamas. Boehler, founder and CEO of Rubicon Founders, a healthcare investment firm, was a lead negotiator on the Abraham Accords team during Trump\u2019s first term that strove to win broader recognition of Israel in the Arab world.<\/p>\n

The talks, which took place last month, focused mainly on the release of American hostages, and a potential end of the war without Hamas in power in Gaza, according to a Hamas official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n

The official added that no progress was made but \u201cthe step itself is promising\u201d and more talks are expected. Egyptian and Qatari mediators helped arrange the talks.<\/p>\n

The direct engagement comes as continuation of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire remains uncertain. Trump has signaled that he has no intentions of pushing Netanyahu away from a return to combat if Hamas doesn\u2019t agree to terms of a new ceasefire proposal, which the Israelis have billed as being drafted by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff.<\/p>\n

The new plan would require Hamas to release half its remaining hostages \u2014 the militant group\u2019s main bargaining chip \u2014 in exchange for a ceasefire extension and a promise to negotiate a lasting truce. Israel made no mention of releasing more Palestinian prisoners, a key component of the first phase.<\/p>\n

Trump on Wednesday welcomed eight former hostages \u2014 Iair Horn, Omer Shem Tov, Eli Sharabi, Keith Siegel, Aviva Siegel, Naama Levy, Doron Steinbrecher and Noa Argamani \u2014 to the White House.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe President listened intently to their heartbreaking stories,\u201d Leavitt said. \u201cThe hostages thanked President Trump for his steadfast efforts to bring all of the hostages home.\u201d <\/p>\n

The talks between U.S. and Hamas officials were first reported earlier Wednesday by the news site Axios.<\/p>\n

Leavitt, the White House press secretary, is one of three administration officials who face a lawsuit from The Associated Press on First- and Fifth-Amendment grounds. The AP says the three are punishing the news agency for editorial decisions they oppose. The White House says the AP is not following an executive order to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

Magdy reported from Cairo.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued what he called a \u201clast warning\u201d to Hamas to release all remaining hostages held in Gaza, directing a sharply worded message after the White House confirmed that he had recently dispatched an envoy for unprecedented direct talks with the militant group. Trump, in a statement on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}