The 78-year-old made the remarks during a wide-ranging news conference at his home in Florida on Tuesday, but did not elaborate on what his comments mean in terms of US action in the region when he takes office.
It is the latest in a series of threats Trump has made for the return of hostages taken in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel more than a year ago.
“All hell will break loose,” the president-elect declared again on Tuesday.
“If those hostages haven’t come back, I don’t want to hurt your negotiation, if they haven’t come back by the time I take office, all hell will break loose in the Middle East,” Trump said.
“And it won’t be good for Hamas and, frankly, it won’t be good for anyone,” he continued. ‘All hell will break out. I don’t have to say anything else, but that’s what it is.”
He declined to elaborate on what exactly would happen if their demands were not met, but said the hostages should have been returned a long time ago.
Trump, speaking at his news conference in Florida on Tuesday, vowed that “all hell will break loose” in the Middle East if the hostages held by Hamas are not freed before he takes office on January 20.
The president-elect was being pressed by a reporter about the Middle East and Syria at Mar-a-Lago when he changed the subject and called his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, to give him an update on the hostages.
“Well, I think we’re making a lot of progress,” Witkoff said. “I don’t want to say too much because I think they are doing a very good job in Doha.”
Witkoff said he would return to Qatar on Wednesday, but said they had made “some really big progress.”
“I’m very hopeful that by the inauguration we’ll have some good things to announce on behalf of the president.”
Witkoff suggested it was Trump’s reputation and the “red lines he put up” that are driving the negotiations.
Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff joined Trump during his press conference and said he believes they are making “great progress” in the negotiations. Witkoff said he would return to Doha on Wednesday.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for a ceasefire agreement to be finalized before President Biden leaves office during a press conference on Monday.
A Hamas official told Reuters it had removed a list of 34 hostages as the first to be freed under a ceasefire deal.
There are believed to be around 100 hostages still in Gaza, but it is unclear how many of them are still alive.
Negotiations between Israel and Hamas have resumed in Qatar with the mediation of Qatari and Egyptian officials.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday called for a deal to be reached “over the finish line” in the next two weeks before President Biden leaves office.
Early last month, Trump warned there would be “hell to pay” in the Middle East if Hamas did not release the hostages before he takes office on January 20.
He wrote in a social media post that those responsible will be “hit harder than anyone in the long and storied history of the United States of America.”
Relatives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza march in Tel Aviv for a ceasefire agreement on January 7, 2025.
Palestinians walk among the destruction in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on January 7, 2025.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a close Trump ally, has said Israel’s war in Gaza will continue until Hamas is eradicated and is no longer a threat.
1,200 people were killed in the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and more than 250 hostages were captured and taken to Gaza.
More than 45,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since the attack, according to Gaza health officials.