US President Donald Trump on Friday said he would take a "hard" stance on the Gaza Strip "if it was up to me" ahead of key weekend deadline.
"I don't know what's going to happen at 12 o'clock. If it was up to me, I'd take a very hard stance. I can't tell you what Israel is going to do," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
Earlier this week, Trump proposed the cancelation of the Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas if all the hostages in the besieged Strip were not released by Saturday.
"As far as I'm concerned, if all of the hostages aren't returned by Saturday at 12 o'clock -- I think it's an appropriate time -- I would say, cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out. I'd say they ought to be returned by 12 o'clock on Saturday. ...And after that, I would say, all hell is going to break out," Trump said on Monday.
The Gaza ceasefire agreement has been in place since Jan. 19, suspending Israel's genocidal war that has killed more than 48,000 people, mostly women and children, and left the enclave in ruins.
Hamas had said it would delay the sixth release of hostages on Saturday due to Israeli "violations" of the agreement, but after mediation from Qatar and Egypt, the deal is set to be implemented this weekend as agreed.
Trump said that Hamas wants to release hostages now again.
"You have to see this started by them saying, 'We're not going to release the hostages, as we said. ..I said, 'Good, you have till 12 o'clock on Saturday, which is tomorrow, at 12 o'clock, to do it.'
"And 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.'," he said, adding Hamas should release all of the hostages.
Recently, Trump has suggested taking over Gaza and resettling Palestinians to neighboring countries and turning the enclave into "the Riviera of the Middle East."
His proposal has met widespread condemnation from the Arab world and beyond.
Trump said on Friday Europeans are losing their freedom of speech, hours after his Vice President JD Vance accused European politicians of censoring free speech.
Vance's speech at the Munich Security Conference was well received, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
The vice president's speech has sparked immediate criticism in Europe. A Reuters reporter in one of the side rooms at the Munich conference where more delegates could listen to Vance's speech said people appeared stunned and did not applaud.
