Hamas reacts to Trumps language of threats, says cease-fire is only way Israel will get hostages back

CAIRO — A Hamas official said on Tuesday Israeli hostages can be brought home from Gaza only if a fragile ceasefire is respected, dismissing the “language of threats” after U.S.President Donald Trump said he would “let hell break out” if they were not freed.Hamas has started releasing some hostages gradually under the ceasefire in place since January 19 but has postponed freeing any more until further notice, accusing Israel of violating the terms by continuing attacks on the Gaza Strip.Trump, a close ally of Israel, said on Monday that Hamas should release all the hostages held by the militant group by midday on Saturday or he would propose canceling the Israel-Hamas ceasefire.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel remained determined to get all the hostages back.“We will continue to take determined and ruthless action until we return all of our hostages – the living and the deceased,” he said in a statement mourning Israeli Shlomo Mansour after the military confirmed he was killed during the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, that triggered the Gaza war.Trump has enraged Palestinians and Arab leaders and upended decades of U.S.

policy which endorsed a possible two-state solution in the region by trying to impose his vision of Gaza, which has been devastated by an Israeli military offensive and is short of food, water and shelter, and in need of foreign aid.“Trump must remember that there is an agreement that must be respected by both parties, and this is the only way to bring back the (Israeli) prisoners.The language of threats has no value and only complicates matters,” senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters.Trump has said the United States should take over Gaza -, where many homes have been turned in piles of cement, dust and twisted metal after months of war – and move out its more than 2 million residents so that the Palestinian enclave can be turned into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”Trump meets Jo...