President Donald Trump called out Hamas on Tuesday during a bilateral meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan, calling the terrorists “bullies” and explaining why they may be dragging their feet on releasing the rest of the hostages.
“A bully is the weakest person,” Trump told the press. “And they’re bullies – Hamas is bullies.”
The president answered questions from the press in the White House, and responded to media inquiries regarding whether his stated intention to take over the Gaza strip would undermine peace talks – and whether Hamas would meet Trump’s Saturday deadline of releasing hostages.
“I’ve looked at the condition of people coming out of the hostage situation and it’s horrible,” the president continued. “…They are emaciated, they look like holocaust survivors.”
Trump suggested that one reason Hamas is “playing so cute” with slow-walking hostage releases is because the current hostages “are in such bad shape.”
He explained, “They want time because the people that they have living are in such bad shape – they’re sending the most healthy people out because they don’t want to send the least healthy people out.”
Trump said Hamas “probably” saw the outrage across the world as three gaunt and stricken hostages were revealed to the world over the weekend. This seems to suggest that Hamas is afraid of the global blowback they have received and will continue to receive if further hostages are in even worse conditions.
“They either have [the hostages] out by Saturday by 12:00, or all bets are off,” Trump warned.
However, Trump also said he didn’t think Hamas would make the deadline. “They want to play the tough guy, but we’ll see how tough they are,” he remarked.
Regardless of the tense situation with Hamas and the hostages, he remained confident that peace will reign in the Middle East with the United States stepping in as a steady intercessor.