A display in Tel Aviv of photos of Israeli citizens held hostage in Gaza. Credit: Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times
President-elect Donald J. Trump on Monday demanded that the hostages taken in the Hamas-led attack on Israel be released from Gaza before his inauguration in January, or there will be “hell to pay” in the Middle East for those responsible.
Writing on Truth Social, and without naming any militant group, Mr Trump said in his post: “If the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity. Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW!”
About 250 hostages were captured in the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct 7, 2023, and about 100 of them remain in Gaza, with about a third believed to be dead, according to the Israeli authorities. The Biden administration has been working since last year with Israel and international mediators, including Qatar and Egypt, on a cease-fire deal that would include the release of the hostages.
It was not clear what tactic Mr Trump might take that has not already been taken by Israel, which has killed many of Hamas’s leaders and thousands of its fighters while levelling much of Gaza.
Mr Trump said in his post on Monday, “It’s all talk and no action” when it comes to the hostages, and his statement suggesting that he could use the power of his office to punish those who took the captives is the first sign of how aggressively Mr Trump might handle Middle East policy when he resumes office.
There was one brief pause in the fighting more than a year ago that led to the release of about 105 hostages. And efforts to broker a cease-fire deal appeared to stall last month after mediators met in Egypt.
Some hostages have also been rescued in Israeli military operations. But there have been protests and widespread frustration in Israel over the lack of a deal to secure their freedom, with critics of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel saying that he has failed to prioritize their release over his political survival.
This is not the first time that Mr. Trump has addressed the conflict in Gaza and the fate of the remaining hostages. He has told Mr Netanyahu that he wants the war in the enclave to end before he returns to the White House. And at the Republican National Convention in July, he said that he wanted the hostages returned and that captors “would be paying a very big price.”
His latest warning came after Hamas released a propaganda video showing the American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander, 20, pleading with Mr. Trump to secure his release.
川普威脅稱，除非在就職前釋放加薩人質，否則“地獄將付出代價”
候任總統唐納德·J·川普週一要求在他一月份就職之前從加薩釋放在哈馬斯領導的對以色列的襲擊中被劫持的人質，否則中東將「讓肇事者付出慘重的代價」。
川普在《Truth Social》上撰文，沒有點名任何激進組織，他在帖子中表示：「如果在 2025 年 1 月 20 日（我自豪地就任美國總統的日期）之前不釋放人質，將會有中東地區以及那些對人類犯下這些暴行的負責人將付出慘痛的代價。 那些負有責任的人將受到比美利堅合眾國漫長而傳奇的歷史上任何人所受到的打擊更嚴重的打擊。 現在就釋放人質！
據以色列當局稱，2023 年 10 月 7 日哈馬斯領導的對以色列的襲擊中約有 250 名人質被俘，其中約 100 名人質仍留在加沙，據信約有三分之一已死亡。 自去年以來，拜登政府一直在與以色列和包括卡達和埃及在內的國際調解人合作，達成停火協議，其中包括釋放人質。
目前還不清楚川普可能會採取哪種以色列尚未採取的策略。
川普在周一的帖子中表示，在人質問題上“只是說說而已，沒有採取任何行動”，他的聲明暗示他可以利用他的辦公室的權力來懲罰那些劫持人質的人，這是第一個跡象川普復任後可能會積極處理中東政策。
一年多前，戰鬥曾短暫停頓，導致約 105 名人質獲釋。 上個月調解人在埃及舉行會議後，促成停火協議的努力似乎停滯不前。
有些人質也在以色列軍事行動中獲救。 但由於未能達成確保他們自由的協議，以色列引發了抗議和廣泛的沮喪，以色列總理本傑明·內塔尼亞胡的批評者表示，他未能將他們的釋放置於他的政治生存之上。
這並不是川普第一次談論加薩衝突和剩餘人質的命運。 他告訴內塔尼亞胡先生，他希望在他返回白宮之前結束飛地的戰爭。
在七月的共和黨全國代表大會上，他表示希望人質歸還，而綁架者「將付出非常大的代價」。
在他發出最新警告之前，哈馬斯發布了一段宣傳視頻，視頻中顯示 20 歲的美以人質埃丹·亞歷山大 (Edan Alexander) 懇求特朗普先生釋放他。
Source: NYT
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