President Donald Trump said Sunday that he was angry with Hamas over the evident starvation of the Israeli hostages, after three men who were released on Sunday appeared emaciated from evident lack of nutrition.
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One where he signed a proclamation declaring Feb. 9 Gulf of America Day as he travels from West Palm Beach, Fla. to New Orleans, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Israel and Hamas are currently in the midst of the first stage of a ceasefire and hostage deal, according to which a handful of Israeli hostages are released each week, and hundreds of convicted Palestinian terrorists.
As Breitbart News reported, Israelis were shocked by the condition of Eli Sharabi, 52, Or Levy, 34, and Ohad Ben Ami, 56, who were returned to Israel on Saturday via the Red Cross.
Trump, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to the Super Bowl, evidently shared that sentiment. He said:
Trump: I saw the abductees coming out, they look like holocaust survivors, I know there is an agreement that Hamas releases a little every week, but I don't know how long I will continue to endure this, my patience is running out. pic.twitter.com/YfSRG3xNXc
— Eli Afriat 🇮🇱🎗 (@EliAfriatISR) February 9, 2025
The Times of Israel noted:
US President Donald Trump said Sunday that the three Israeli hostages who were released by Hamas a day earlier looking gaunt and frail resembled Jews under Nazi Germany, warning that “at some point, we’re gonna lose our patience.”
…
He went on to say the trio “look like they haven’t had a meal in a month,” and that they are “people that were healthy people a reasonably short number of years ago, and you look at them today, they look like they’ve aged 25 years, they literally look like the old pictures of Holocaust survivors, the same thing. No reason for that.”
Amid the thousands of trucks of humanitarian aid that the international community has insisted Israel provide to the Palestinians, there has been no global pressure to ensure that food or medical aid reaches the hostages.
The Red Cross has also failed to visit the hostages — though it has willingly participated in Hamas handovers that are little more than propaganda displays. One freed hostage said that he had been briefly held in captivity underneath a Red Cross office in Gaza.
Sharabi and Levy also learned on their return to Israel that many members of their family had been murdered by Hamas in the October 7, 2023, terror attack.
Trump’s remarks could affect the ongoing negotiations around a so-called “second stage” of the hostage and ceasefire deal. Over Israeli 70 hostages, including six U.S. citizens, still remain in Gaza, though it is unclear how many are still alive.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
