US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened “all hell will break out” in the Middle East, if Israeli captives held in Gaza are not returned before he takes office in less than two weeks. He was speaking at a news conference in Florida, alongside Steve Witkoff, his nominee for Middle East envoy. A Hamas spokesman said Trump should make more disciplined and diplomatic statements and the group's conditions remain the same - an end to Israel's war on the strip. Sami al-Arian, director of the Center for Islam and Global Affairs at Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University, says President-elect Trump’s threat of “all hell breaking loose” in the Middle East if Hamas doesn’t immediately release the Israeli captives “doesn’t mean much”.
