Trump seems to threaten Hamas with 'all hell to pay' over captives
US President-elect Donald Trump has issued an apparent warning to Hamas, threatening "all hell to pay" if hostages held by the Palestinian group in Gaza are not released by the time he returns to the White House on 20 January.
Dozens of people who were snatched during the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel remain unaccounted for. On Monday, the Israeli military said an Israeli-American soldier who is believed to be a captive had been killed last October.
Without mentioning Hamas by name, Trump posted online the same day: "Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied history of the United States of America."
Trump has generally spoken of ending foreign conflicts, and of reducing US involvement.
He has positioned himself as a staunch supporter of Israel during its campaign in Gaza but has urged the American ally to end its military operation.
Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group's unprecedented attack on southern Israel in 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
More than 44,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. Tens of thousands of others have been injured and much of the Palestinian enclave is in ruins.
On Monday, Israel attributed a new death to the 2023 assault by Hamas - saying Israeli-American soldier Omer Neutra was killed that day, and his body taken to Gaza. He was previously believed to have been in captivity but alive.
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