US President Donald Trump stands on the grid during pre-race ceremonies prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 16, 2025 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by CHRIS GRAYTHEN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
OAN Staff James Meyers 8:14 AM – Monday, February 17, 2025
President Donald Trump told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the weekend to “do whatever you want” if the terrorist group Hamas doesn’t release all the remaining hostages.
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“I told Bibi, ‘You do whatever you want,” Trump, 78, told reporters after attending the opening of the Daytona 500 Sunday.
The 47th president emphasized his support for the Israeli government and said the next step in the Middle East conflict was “up to Israel.”
This comes after last week Trump made a grave warning that “all hell is going to break out” if Hamas did not release the dozens of remaining hostages that they kidnapped during the October 7th terrorist attack against Israel.
The deadline given by the 47th president for the terrorist group to return the remaining hostages was Saturday, which went by without a problem.
“My statement was they’ve got to come back,” the president told reporters at Palm Beach International Airport. “Now, the reason I made that statement was because they said they were not going to deliver … the people that they said they were going to deliver, that they agreed to deliver. And they did agree to do that, but they broke that agreement when I made the statement.”
“They delivered everybody, plus an American [Sagui Dekel-Chen]. Now the good news is they look like they’re in pretty good shape, because the people from the week before, it didn’t look like they were in good shape,” Trump went on. “They looked like Holocaust survivors, frankly, horrible. Whatever happened to them was horrible, but that will be up to Israel what the next step is, in consultation with me.”
Additionally, Netanyahu said he and Trump were in agreement on the fate of the Gaza Strip after the commander-in-chief announced plans for the U.S. to take over the territory and redevelop it.
The plans include moving two million Palestinians removed from Gaza and sent to neighboring nations.
“It may have shocked and surprised many, but what we cannot continue is the same cycle where we repeat over and over again and wind up in the exact same place,” said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, addressing the possible move during a joint news conference with Netanyahu Sunday.
“This didn’t come as a surprise,” added the prime minister, saying Trump’s solution was “the only viable plan to enable a different future for the people of Gaza, for Israel, and for the region.”
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