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Trump: ‘All Hell is Going to Break Out’ if Remaining Hostages Aren’t Released by Hamas

US President Donald Trump while joined by Howard Lutnick (R), chief executive officer of Cantor Fitzgerald LP and US commerce secretary nominee during an executive order signing in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, on 10 February 2025. EPA/AL DRAGO / POOL
US President Donald Trump while joined by Howard Lutnick (R), chief executive officer of Cantor Fitzgerald LP and US commerce secretary nominee during an executive order signing in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, on 10 February 2025. EPA/AL DRAGO / POOL
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Trump: ‘All Hell is Going to Break Out’ if Remaining Hostages Aren’t Released by Hamas

US President Donald Trump while joined by Howard Lutnick (R), chief executive officer of Cantor Fitzgerald LP and US commerce secretary nominee during an executive order signing in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, on 10 February 2025. EPA/AL DRAGO / POOL
US President Donald Trump while joined by Howard Lutnick (R), chief executive officer of Cantor Fitzgerald LP and US commerce secretary nominee during an executive order signing in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, on 10 February 2025. EPA/AL DRAGO / POOL

US President Donald Trump said Monday that the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas should be canceled if the Palestinian group doesn’t release all the remaining hostages it is holding in Gaza by midday Saturday.
In comments to reporters as he signed a series of executive orders, Trump said it was ultimately up to Israel. But he warned that “all hell is going to break out” if the remaining hostages aren’t released, adding that he feared many were dead.
“I’m speaking for myself,” Trump said. “Israel can override it.”

Hamas announced on Monday it would stop releasing Israeli hostages until further notice over what it said were Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement.

In reply, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Hamas had violated the ceasefire agreement with its announcement and that he had instructed the military to prepare at the highest level of readiness in Gaza and to defend Israeli communities.

Abu Obaida, a spokesperson for Hamas' military wing, said that since the ceasefire came into effect on January 19, Israel had delayed allowing displaced Palestinians from returning to northern Gaza, targeted Gazans with military shelling and gunfire and had stopped relief materials entering the territory.

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Activist Aid Ship Nears Gaza After Reaching Egypt Coast

Climate activist Greta Thunberg stands near a Palestinian flag after boarding the Madleen boat and before setting sail for Gaza along with activists of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, departing from the Sicilian port of Catania, Italy, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP)
Climate activist Greta Thunberg stands near a Palestinian flag after boarding the Madleen boat and before setting sail for Gaza along with activists of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, departing from the Sicilian port of Catania, Italy, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP)
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Activist Aid Ship Nears Gaza After Reaching Egypt Coast

Climate activist Greta Thunberg stands near a Palestinian flag after boarding the Madleen boat and before setting sail for Gaza along with activists of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, departing from the Sicilian port of Catania, Italy, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP)
Climate activist Greta Thunberg stands near a Palestinian flag after boarding the Madleen boat and before setting sail for Gaza along with activists of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, departing from the Sicilian port of Catania, Italy, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP)

An aid ship with 12 activists on board, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, has reached the Egyptian coast and is nearing the besieged Palestinian territory, organizers said on Saturday.

The Madleen, part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, left Sicily last week with a cargo of relief supplies "to break Israel's blockade on Gaza".

"We are now sailing off the Egyptian coast," German human rights activist Yasemin Acar told AFP. "We are all good," she added.

In a statement from London on Saturday, the International Committee for Breaking the Siege of Gaza -- a member organization of the flotilla coalition -- said the ship had entered Egyptian waters.

The group said it remains in contact with international legal and human rights bodies to ensure the safety of those on board, warning that any interception would constitute "a blatant violation of international humanitarian law".

European parliament member Rima Hassan, who is on board the vessel, urged governments to "guarantee safe passage for the Freedom Flotilla."

The Palestinian territory was under Israeli naval blockade even before the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas that sparked the Gaza war and Israel has enforced its blockade with military action in the past.

A 2010 commando raid on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which was part of a similar aid flotilla trying to breach the blockade, left 10 civilians dead.

In May, another Freedom Flotilla ship, the Conscience, reported coming under drone attack while en route for Gaza, prompting Cyprus and Malta to send rescue vessels in response to its distress call. There were no reports of any casualties.

Earlier in its voyage, the Madleen changed course near the Greek island of Crete after receiving a distress signal from a sinking migrant boat.

Activists rescued four Sudanese migrants who had jumped into the sea to avoid being returned to Libya. The four were later transferred to an EU Frontex vessel.

Launched in 2010, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition is a coalition of groups opposed to the blockade on humanitarian aid for Gaza that Israel imposed on March 2 and has only partially eased since.

Israel has faced mounting international condemnation over the resulting humanitarian crisis in the territory, where the United Nations has warned the entire population of more than two million is at risk of famine.