A Hamas official said on Tuesday Israeli hostages can be brought home from Gaza only if a fragile ceasefire is respected, dismissing the "language of threats" after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would "let hell break out" if they were not freed.
Hamas has started releasing some hostages gradually under the ceasefire in place since Jan. 19 but has postponed freeing any more until further notice, accusing Israel of violating the terms by continuing attacks on the Gaza Strip.
Trump, a close ally of Israel, said on Monday that Hamas should release all the hostages held by the militant group by midday on Saturday or he would propose cancelling the Israel-Hamas ceasefire.
Trump has enraged Palestinians and Arab leaders and upended decades of U.S. policy which endorsed a possible two-state solution in the region by trying to impose his vision of Gaza, which has been devastated by an Israeli military offensive and is short of food, water and shelter, and in need of foreign aid.
"Trump must remember that there is an agreement that must be respected by both parties, and this is the only way to bring back the (Israeli) prisoners. The language of threats has no value and only complicates matters," senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters.
Trump has said the United States should take over Gaza -, where many homes have been turned in piles of cement, dust and twisted metal after months of war - and move out its more than 2 million residents so that the Palestinian enclave can be turned into the "Riviera of the Middle East".
Trump meets Jordan's King Abdullah on Tuesday for what is likely to be a tense encounter following the president's Gaza redevelopment idea, including a threat to cut aid to the U.S.-allied Arab country if it refuses to resettle Palestinians.
The forcible displacement of a population under military occupation is a war crime banned by the 1949 Geneva conventions.
The Gaza war, launched after Hamas attacks on Israeli territory on October 7, 2023, has been paused since mid-January under the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas that was brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States.
U.N. CHIEF WARNS OF 'IMMENSE TRAGEDY'
More than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in the last 16 months, the Gaza health ministry says, and nearly all of Gaza's population has been internally displaced by the conflict, which has caused a hunger crisis.
Some 1,200 people were killed in the 2023 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israeli communities and about 250 were taken to Gaza as hostages, Israeli tallies show.
Trump's ideas, which also include a threat to cut aid to Egypt if it does not take in Palestinians, have introduced new complexity into a sensitive and explosive regional dynamic, including the shaky ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Amman's concern is being amplified by a surge in violence on its border with the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Palestinian hopes of statehood are being rapidly eroded by expanding Jewish settlement.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on X on Tuesday that a resumption of activities should be avoided at all costs because that would lead to "immense tragedy".
"I appeal to Hamas to proceed with the planned liberation of hostages. Both sides must fully abide by their commitments in the ceasefire agreement & resume serious negotiations," he said.
The idea of a two-state solution has faded since 2014 when Palestinian and Israeli attempts at peacemaking in one of the most volatile and violent regions in the world stalled.
