00:00In news overseas, President Donald J. Trump on Thursday doubled down on his threat that
00:05Hamas must free the remaining Israeli hostages immediately.
00:08The U.S. designated terror group said it will do so only in exchange for a lasting truce
00:13and accused the U.S. and Israel of trying to back out of negotiations.
00:18White House Bureau Chief Patsy Budakoswara tells us more.
00:22As Palestinians struggle to rebuild their lives amid the fragile ceasefire in Gaza,
00:28President Donald Trump delivers Hamas, a U.S. designated terror group, an ultimatum
00:33— release all Israeli hostages immediately or there will be, quote, hell to pay.
00:39On Thursday, he was asked what he meant by that.
00:41What are you going to find out?
00:43I had the honor of spending a lot of time yesterday with quite a few of the people that
00:50we got out, and I can't believe how badly treated they were.
00:54Trump issued the warning Wednesday after meeting hostages freed by Hamas.
00:58His administration sent $4 billion in weapons to Israel this week, the second time in a
01:04month it used emergency authority to bypass congressional approval for the sale.
01:09A Hamas spokesman said the best path to free the hostages is through ceasefire negotiations.
01:14Washington has a longstanding policy to not negotiate with terrorists.
01:18But Trump confirmed his administration has begun direct talks with the U.S.-designated
01:22terror group to release hostages.
01:25We are helping Israel in those discussions because we're talking about Israeli hostages.
01:32And we're not doing anything in terms of Hamas.
01:35We're not giving cash.
01:37The talks appear separate from negotiations between Hamas and Israel to secure phase two
01:41of the Gaza ceasefire.
01:43Phase one ended last weekend.
01:45Most people are expecting the ceasefire will collapse because they are expecting that Prime
01:50Minister Netanyahu is going to start pounding Gaza again.
01:53And as soon as that happens, there will be no more hostage releases.
01:57Meanwhile, Arab nations on Tuesday endorsed a counterproposal to Trump's call to expel
02:02Palestinians and turn Gaza into a beach destination.
02:06Under the Arab plan, Palestinians will remain there, and Hamas will be excluded from governance.
02:11Israel has rejected the plan.
02:13The Arab nation's plan is a, quote, good faith first step, Trump's Mideast envoy Steve
02:18Witkoff told VOA.
02:20He would not commit to leaving the Palestinians in Gaza.
02:23We're evaluating everything there, so it's a little bit early to comment.
02:27Israel has also blocked all aid into Gaza since Sunday, repeating longstanding charges
02:31that it is being diverted to Hamas, which international agencies deny.
02:36There's now a fuel shortage in the territory, further jeopardizing basic services such as
02:41trash removal.
02:42Patsy Widakus, VOA News at the White House.
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