U.S. Vice President-elect J.D. Vance said on Sunday that the hostage-deal talks between Israel and Hamas are progressing because the Gaza terrorist organization is “terrified” by Donald Trump’s warnings.
Speaking on Fox News, Vance also shed some light on what those threats could mean in practice.
“It means enabling the Israelis to knock out the last couple of battalions of Hamas and their leadership. It means very aggressive sanctions and financial penalties on those supporting terrorist organizations in the Middle East. It means actually doing the job of American leadership,” said Vance of Trump’s comments at the end of December.
“We’re hopeful there’s a deal that’s struck toward the very end of the Biden administration, maybe the last day or two,” he said. “But regardless of when that deal is struck, it will be because people are terrified that there are going to be consequences for Hamas.”
President-elect Trump has issued a number of warnings to Hamas that there will be “hell to pay” if the Israeli hostages held captive in the Gaza Strip are not released by the time he returns to office on Jan. 20.
When asked recently by American political commentator Hugh Hewitt to elaborate, Trump replied, “I don’t think I have to go into it. ... But it won’t be the word ‘don’t,’ you know. I heard the word ‘don’t,’ you can add that into it, but that would just be a small part of it. ... Those hostages have to get out. They have to get out now.”
Speaking to ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, incoming U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz reiterated Trump’s warnings, stressing that waiting past Trump’s inauguration to strike an agreement will only worsen the terms for Hamas.
“Any deal will only get worse for Hamas, and there will be all hell to pay in the Middle East if we continue to have this kind of hostage diplomacy,” Waltz warned.
“Let’s allow our hostages to be set free. I want to see them walking across the tarmac, or at a minimum some type of agreement before inauguration, because President Trump is serious,” he added.
A high-level Israeli delegation has already arrived in Doha, Qatar for critical talks aimed at cementing a deal.
Among the senior personnel participating are Mossad Director David Barnea, Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) chief Ronen Bar, Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon, the head of the Missing and Captive Soldiers Section in the Military Intelligence Directorate and the prime minister’s political adviser Ophir Falk.
Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Israel on Saturday in what was described as a “surprise visit” to discuss the multilateral negotiations with Hamas for the release of Israeli hostages and a ceasefire in Gaza.
After a situation assessment discussion held by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the delegation was instructed to leave for Doha.
