Trump Says Hostages Will Only Return If Hamas ‘Is Confronted And Destroyed’

President Donald Trump said Monday that the 50 remaining hostages in Gaza would return if Hamas were destroyed.

“We will only see the return of remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!! The sooner this takes place, the better the chances of success will be,” Trump posted to TRUTH Social.

Trump’s post comes the day after hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets of Tel Aviv to oppose Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to expand the offensive in Gaza following Hamas’ rejection of multiple ceasefire proposals.

NEW: Trump says the hostages will be returned if Hamas is “confronted and destroyed.” pic.twitter.com/3x9uqYDECE

— Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) August 18, 2025

“Remember, I was the one who negotiated and got hundreds of hostages freed and released into Israel (and America!),” Trump added. “Play to WIN, or don’t play at all!”

At the protest in Tel Aviv, organized by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, family members of hostages spoke from the stage, demanding an end to the war and the return of their loved ones. The day of protest included strikes, business shuttering, solidarity, and road blockages.

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Netanyahu confirmed Israel’s plans to fully take over Gaza earlier this month as an effort to expel Hamas from power and eventually allow an Arab civilian government — free from Hamas or the Palestinian Authority — to take control.

“We intend to in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free in Gaza, and to pass it to civilian governance that is not Hamas or anyone advocating for the destruction of Israel,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News’ Bill Hemmer.

According to Netanyahu, there is no path forward with Hamas.

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“You met Palestinians who are fighting Hamas because finally they see that they have a future that can rid themselves of this awful tyranny that not only holds our hostages but holds 2 million Palestinians in Gaza hostage,” Netanyahu told Hemmer, who visited a U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation site before the interview.

Netanyahu made it clear that Israel does not wish to occupy Gaza permanently, but would rather turn over control to a capable, Arab-led government.

“We don’t want to keep it, we want to have a security perimeter,” he said. “We don’t want to govern it. We don’t want to be there as a governing body. We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us.”

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Netanyahu’s plan includes first occupying Gaza City before October 7—the 3rd anniversary of Hamas’s massacre of Israeli civilians. Israel currently occupies about 75% of the Gaza Strip.

Some Gazans have already begun evacuating Gaza City, reported the Jerusalem Post.