Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, who played a significant role in reaching the current ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization, warned that there would be a "big problem" if Hamas failed to accede to Trump's demand that all hostages be released by noon on Saturday.
“Hamas is a terrorist organization. They should not be allowed to be part of the government in Gaza. This is an unhealthy situation, they need to go," Witkoff told C-Span today (Wednesday).
“The president said all that we all need to know, which is Saturday, 12 o’clock he expects there to be something different occurring, and if it’s not there’s going to be a big problem,” he said.
Trump on Monday issued a warning to Hamas and said that if it were up to him, the ceasefire and hostage deal should be canceled if Hamas does not release all the hostages.
“As far as I'm concerned, if all of the hostages aren't returned by Saturday at 12:00 o'clock, I think it's an appropriate time, I would say cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out,” stated Trump.
“I'd say they ought to be returned by 12:00 o'clock on Saturday. And if they're not returned, all of them, not in drips and drabs, not two and one and three and four and two, Saturday at 12:00 o'clock. And after that, I would say all hell is going to break out,” he added.
Trump also acknowledged that such a decision would be up to Israel, saying, “I'm speaking for myself. Israel can override it.”