Trump pledges 'hell to pay' if Israeli hostages are not released before his inauguration

WASHINGTON ? President-elect Donald Trump pledged Monday to exact vengeance against Hamas militants who kidnapped Israelis, including some with dual American citizenship, if the group does not release every remaining hostage from its deadly raid into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, before the Republican is sworn into office next month.

Trump, in a social media post, said "there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity" if all the hostages were not released by his inauguration Jan. 20. He said that "those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit" in American history. He did not go into specifics in his post.

The Biden administration said last week that along with France it had negotiated a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. The release of hostages in Gaza is a key condition of the cease-fire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, which restarted last weekend. Both militant groups are Iranian-backed proxies, and the U.S. has long asserted that a cease-fire in Lebanon could lead to one in Gaza.

Monday's threat from Trump was the latest instance in which he has sought to leverage his position as president-elect to force concessions from foreign actors before he takes office and in ways that run counter to current U.S. foreign policy. He warned of tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada in social media posts last week.

Trump's latest social media missive suggesting the U.S. could retaliate directly against Hamas followed an announcement Monday from the Israeli military that U.S.-Israeli citizen Omer Neutra had died in the militants' surprise attack on Israel last year, and his body was being held in Gaza.

Neutra, 21, was a platoon commander in Israel's armored corps. He was among 48 Americans the State Department says were killed in the attack.

News of Neutra's death came as Hamas released a hostage video of Edan Alexander, 20, an Israeli-American from Long Island, New York.

President Joe Biden, who had met with Neutra’s parents, said in a statement that he was “devastated and outraged" by his death.

Biden's remarks, sent from Africa, where he is traveling this week, addressed the families of those still held hostage in Gaza, many of them long frustrated and anguished by the lack of progress in negotiations. He told them: “We see you. We are with you. And I will not stop working to bring your loved ones back home where they belong."

Contributing: Chris Kenning and Cybele Mayes-Osterman

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump pledges 'hell to pay' if Hamas does not release Israeli hostages