450 days. That’s how long Israeli and American hostages have been held captive by Hamas terrorists with families pleading both the American and Israeli governments to do whatever they can to bring them home.
But Senator Ted Cruz announced this week that long overdue wait for these hostages to come home could finally happen before Donald Trump takes office on January 20.
During a Tuesday evening interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Cruz said that there was a serious chance the Iranian-backed Hamas terrorist organization will release the remaining Israeli and American hostages that it has before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
Cruz’s remarks come after Trump warned that there would be “hell to pay” if the hostages were not released before he is sworn in.
At a press conference from Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, Trump said, “If those hostages aren’t back … if they’re not back by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East.”
“And it will not be good for Hamas and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone,” he continued.
In the interview, the Texas Republican, who just won his third term in the U.S. Senate in November, said that Trump would immediately get the situation on the border under control, unleash American energy production, lower inflation, and strike fear in the hearts of America’s enemies.
“And I’m going to make a prediction,” Cruz said.
“I think there is a very real possibility that we will see the hostages in Gaza released on or before January 20th.”
The American people have given a clear and unequivocal mandate to Washington, D.C.
Republicans control both chambers of Congress and the White House.
We are going to secure the border, lower inflation, unleash American energy, end the weaponization of government, and confirm… pic.twitter.com/xp2svhWant
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) January 8, 2025
According to Cruz, there is also historical precident with the move, dating back to the days of Ronald Reagan’s predidency and the Iran hostages during that era.
“If you go back to 1981 when Ronald Reagan was sworn in, Iran released the hostages on January 20th, the day he was sworn in,” he continued. “I think we will see that again either on or before January 20th, because Hamas and Hezbollah and Iran, Donald Trump scares the living daylights out of them.”
“The message he gave that all hell will break loose, that was an incredibly important message and one, sadly, Joe Biden and the Democrats are incapable of giving because they don’t believe it and they wouldn’t follow through on it,” he added.
Trump’s use of the word “anyone” during his recent press conference is likely a reference to Iran, which has propped up Hamas and has been linked to attempted to attempts to assassinate Trump.
“All hell will break out,” Trump said. “I don’t have to say anymore, but that’s what it is. And they should have given them back a long time ago, they should have never taken them. There should have never been the attack of October 7th, people forget that.”