Hamas’ treatment of the hostages it has been holding in captivity in the Gaza Strip is ‘intolerable,’ U.S. envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff said Thursday, warning that ‘it’s not going to be tolerated by President Trump.’
Witkoff spoke outside the White House a day after President Donald Trump met with eight former hostages in Washington and posted what he called a ‘last warning’ to Hamas on his Truth Social platform.
‘We’re not going to sit here, do nothing and tolerate this kind of inhumane conditions,’ Witkoff said. ‘They lived in a terrible situation. By the way, who keeps dead bodies? Who does that? Who keeps people chained up downstairs? Who murders in front of other hostages? What’s happened here is intolerable, and it’s not going to be tolerated by President Trump.’
‘We had a wonderful day with the hostages yesterday… they got a treat a lifetime, they got to spend some time with President Trump. And we thought it was going to be a short period of time because his day was busy, but he ended up spending about an hour with them, with each of the hostages, pictures, and spent a lot of time listening to their stories about what happened to them in captivity. And he was clearly emotional about it as anybody would be,’ Witkoff also said.
‘The president was pretty blunt,’ Witkoff added. ‘It’s time for Hamas to start acting in a responsible and reasonable way. And we don’t think that they have been doing that.’
However, the Palestinian terrorist group on Thursday dismissed Trump’s latest threat and refused to release more Israeli hostages without a permanent ceasefire deal in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua said the ‘best path to free the remaining Israeli hostages’ is through negotiations on a second phase of the ceasefire agreement.
The first phase of the ceasefire, which lasted 42 days, ended on Saturday. A second phase was supposed to begin in early February, though only limited preparatory talks have been held so far.
‘‘Shalom Hamas’ means Hello and Goodbye – You can choose,’ Trump said on Wednesday. ‘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 added that he is ‘sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job,’ and that ‘not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don’t do as I say.
‘Also, to the People of Gaza: A beautiful Future awaits, but not if you hold Hostages,’ the president wrote. ‘If you do, you are DEAD! Make a SMART decision. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW, OR THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY LATER!’
Fox News’ Stephen Sorace and the Associated Press contributed to this report.