{"id":575,"date":"2025-03-06T03:22:50","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T03:22:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/03\/06\/trump-issues-last-warning-to-hamas-to-release-all-hostages-as-us-holds-direct-talks-with-hamas-cnn\/"},"modified":"2025-03-06T03:22:50","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T03:22:50","slug":"trump-issues-last-warning-to-hamas-to-release-all-hostages-as-us-holds-direct-talks-with-hamas-cnn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/03\/06\/trump-issues-last-warning-to-hamas-to-release-all-hostages-as-us-holds-direct-talks-with-hamas-cnn\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump issues \u2018last warning\u2019 to Hamas to release all hostages, as US holds direct talks with Hamas – CNN"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"US<\/picture> <\/div>\n
\n

<\/span> CNN<\/span> \u00a0\u2014\u00a0 <\/cite> <\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump issued what he said was a \u201clast warning\u201d to Hamas to release all of the hostages in Gaza immediately \u2013 in a move that came just hours after the White House confirmed it was negotiating directly with the militant group. <\/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 posted on Truth Social<\/a> on Wednesday, soon after meeting eight freed hostages at the White House. <\/p>\n

Trump wrote that he would send Israel \u201ceverything it needs to finish the job,\u201d and warned that \u201cNot a single Hamas member will be safe if you don\u2019t do as I say.\u201d <\/p>\n

The comments came just hours after the US confirmed reports that it was negotiating directly with Hamas about hostages and the Gaza ceasefire, in a move that goes against its tradition of not talking to groups it considers terrorist organizations. Axios first reported the talks. <\/p>\n

The United States, which designated Hamas as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 1997, traditionally does not speak with terrorist organizations, though there have been exceptions \u2013 both the Obama and Trump administrations negotiated with the Taliban, which was designated a terrorist organization in the wake of 9\/11. <\/p>\n

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked Wednesday why the US was negotiating \u201cdirectly and for the first time ever with Hamas.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to the negotiations that you\u2019re referring to, first of all, the special envoy who\u2019s engaged in those negotiations does have the authority to talk to anyone,\u201d she said, referring to Trump\u2019s pick for hostage envoy, Adam Boehler. <\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael was consulted on this matter, and look, 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 has proven is what he believes is (a) good faith effort to do what\u2019s right for the American people,\u201d Leavitt added. <\/p>\n

CNN has reached out to the National Security Council for comment. <\/p>\n

The Israeli Prime Minister\u2019s Office said it had \u201cexpressed to the United States its position regarding direct talks with Hamas.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Israeli statement did not make clear whether Israel had advance knowledge of the talks or whether it learned of them only later. Neither did the statement make clear what Israel\u2019s position was. <\/p>\n

Earlier Wednesday a source had told CNN Israel was aware of the talks. <\/p>\n

CNN has asked Hamas for comment. <\/p>\n

A top Israeli diplomat appeared to reference the talks in an interview with Fox Business. <\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of putting Israel under pressure, President (Donald) Trump is putting Hamas under pressure and this is the right thing to do,\u201d\u202fOfir Akunis, Israel\u2019s consul general in New York, said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf the White House wants to talk directly to Hamas and put them under pressure to release more hostages, we will be very happy to see more hostages with their families and in Israel,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

In his comments on Truth Social, Trump also addressed the people of Gaza directly, saying \u201ca beautiful future awaits, but not if you hold hostages.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you do, you are DEAD! Make a SMART decision. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW, OR THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY LATER!\u201d Trump said. <\/p>\n

Trump has previously said he views Gaza as a \u201cbig real estate site<\/a>\u201d that he sees an opportunity to develop and that he envisions Gaza could become the \u201cRiviera of the Middle East.\u201d <\/p>\n

Hamas warned Trump\u2019s comments on Wednesday threatened to undermine the Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal. <\/p>\n

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem told CNN the remarks would \u201ccomplicate matters regarding the ceasefire agreement\u201d and embolden Israel\u2019s government to avoid implementing the deal. <\/p>\n

Qassem said Hamas had fulfilled its first-phase obligations under the US-brokered agreement and that the Israeli government was \u201cevading negotiations for the second phase.\u201d <\/p>\n

He urged the US to pressure Israel into entering the second phase, \u201cas stipulated in the agreement.\u201d <\/p>\n

On Sunday, a day after the first phase expired, Israel blocked humanitarian aid into Gaza, in response to Hamas rejecting a new Israeli proposal to extend the ceasefire without any commitment to end the war or fully withdraw troops. <\/p>\n

Jeremy Diamond, Ibrahim Dahman, Eugenia Yosef, and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CNN \u00a0\u2014\u00a0 US President Donald Trump issued what he said was a \u201clast warning\u201d to Hamas to release all of the hostages in Gaza immediately \u2013 in a move that came just hours after the White House confirmed it was negotiating directly with the militant group. \u201cRelease all of the hostages now, not later, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-575","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\/575","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=575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}