‘Don’t know what'll happen tomorrow': Donald Trump on upcoming Gaza hostage release

The US President had earlier unveiled a plan to capture the Gaza territory and relocate nearly 1.2 million Palestinians in Gaza.

President Donald Trump stated on Friday that he was not sure what would happen on Saturday when Hamas plans to release hostages, but promised a “hard stance” on Gaza, reported Reuters.

President Donald Trump vows to take ‘hard stance’ on Gaza amid hostage release(Bloomberg)

Trump said, “I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow at 12 o'clock. I'd take a very hard stance. I can't tell you what Israel is going to do... It depends what Bibi (Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli PM) is going to do, it depends what Israel is going to do.”

The US President added that though Hamas had stated that they would release the hostages as planned, he had his doubts.

"You have to see this started by them (Hamas) saying, we're not going to release the hostages as we said we were. I said, good, you have until 12 o'clock on Saturday, which is tomorrow at 12 o'clock, to do it. We didn't hear anything then all of a sudden, two days ago, they said, no, we've decided we're going to release the hostages. I actually think they should release all of the hostages," Trump said.

Donald Trump had previously issued a warning to Hamas that “all hell would break loose” if the planned hostage release did not go through. After a few setbacks, Hamas conceded to going through with the hostage release on Saturday, and will release 369 detainees.

The US President had also unveiled a plan to capture the Gaza territory and relocate nearly 1.2 million Palestinians in Gaza.

Donald Trump's Gaza plan

While the US President has not revealed the exact details of his plan to relocate Gazans, during an interview with FOX News, he said, “We’ll build safe communities, a little bit away from where they are, where all of this danger is. In the meantime, I would own this."

He added, "Think of it as a real estate development for the future. It would be a beautiful piece of land. No big money spent.”

During a joint press conference with Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump had also vowed to dismantle dangerous weaponry in the Gaza strip after taking control of the region.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and Secretary of State Marco Rubio later clarified that Trump only wanted Palestinians relocated from Gaza for an “interim” period to allow for the reconstruction of the war-torn area.

While Trump has Israel's backing for his plan, Arab nations have sharply criticised his proposal to turn Gaza into the "Riviera of the Middle East".

A senior Hamas official, Izzat al-Rishq, criticised Trump's “absurd” plan and told news agency Associated Press that “dealing with the Palestinian cause with the mentality of a real estate dealer is a recipe for failure. Our Palestinian people will thwart all transfer and deportation plans.”