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‘Shalom Hamas': Trump threatens Palestinian terrorist group

The ultimatum to release the remaining hostages in Gaza or face severe consequences was delivered after an Oval Office meeting with freed captives.

Trump hostages
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with released hostages in the Oval Office at the White House on March 5, 2025. Credit: Molly Riley/White House.

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Hamas in a social-media post on Wednesday after an Oval Office meeting with a delegation of eight freed Israeli hostages.

“‘Shalom Hamas’ means hello and goodbye—you can choose,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “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. Only sick and twisted people keep bodies, and you are sick and twisted.”

“I am sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job. Not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don’t do as I say,” the president added. “Release the hostages now, or there will be hell to pay later.”

“Behind El-Sayed’s political rise sits a much older and more entrenched institutional network,” the Texas senator said, of the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan.
The announcement comes as Israeli banks are expected to end correspondent banking services to Palestinian counterparts.
“My jaw kind of hit the floor for a second,” an attendee of the event told JNS.
Alyza Lewin, president of U.S. affairs at the Combat Antisemitism Movement, stated that El-Sayed’s victory “should raise alarm bells for Jewish Americans across the country and everyone who believes in civil rights for all.”