Trump threatens military intervention in the Middle East over Israeli hostages

December 03, 2024

President-elect Donald Trump attends a campaign event, in Allentown, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 29, 2024.

REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo/File Photo

On Monday, President-elect Donald Trumpposted on social media that “if the [Israeli] hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East.”

Quite a threat to issue to an entire region, particularly given Americans’ skepticism of foreign involvement in overseas conflicts. But it’s a low-probability, high-risk sort of scenario, given that Trump did not specify who he would attack or how.

Meanwhile, at least 97 hostages or their remains are still in Gaza, and the Israeli military believes at least 35 of that group are dead. Hamas is also believed to be holding two corpses of Israeli soldiers killed a decade ago, and two living Israelis captured in 2014 and 2015.

While Trump’s threat is unlikely to lead to imminent hostage releases, we’ll be watching for any movement.

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Air India Flight AI171 crashed into the hostel canteen of the B.J. Medical College (BJMC), a well-known medical college in Ahmedabad, India, on June 12, 2025, while students were having lunch inside. Casualties in the building is not known.

West Asia News Agency, Majid Asgaripour/WANA via REUTERS

Trump threatens military intervention in the Middle East over Israeli hostages

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Trump threatens military intervention in the Middle East over Israeli hostages

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More from GZERO Media

NATO has long had an informal requirement that its members spend 2% of GDP on defense. However, despite decades of urging by successive US presidents, many member states have consistently fallen short of that target.

Prime Minister Mark Carney pledged this week to increase Canada’s military budget to meet NATO’s target this year. It’s not year clear where the money will go.

Canadian and US officials are reportedly approaching at least the framework of a deal covering trade and other issues.

GZEROMEDIA

Subscribe to GZERO Media's newsletter: Signal

In this episode of Europe in :60, Carl Bildt breaks down Serbia’s evolving foreign policy, and political developments in Poland.

The US on Wednesday evacuated nonessential diplomatic and military personnel from Baghdad and several military bases in the region.

The Trump administration wants to slash the budget of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the US’ main medical research institution, by 40% for the next fiscal year.

Flooding in South Africa’s Eastern Cape, the result of snow and heavy rain, has left at least 49 people dead, including several people on a school bus that was swept away by the waters.

An increasingly small proportion of each country’s population was alive during some of the most seminal moments in 20th-century history, altering the worldviews of today’s electorates.