Senate Republicans are praising President-elect Donald Trump’s demand for the immediate release of the hostages in Gaza, while expressing doubt that his desire for a cease-fire ahead of Inauguration Day is realistic or the best course of action. 

Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Monday that, “If the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity. Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America.” 

“Everybody is talking about the hostages who are being held so violently, inhumanely, and against the will of the entire World, in the Middle East – But it’s all talk, and no action,” Trump added. 

There are still 101 hostages being held in Gaza, including seven Americans. Trump’s statement came hours after the IDF announced that U.S. citizen Omer Neutra, who was thought to have been alive and taken hostage by Hamas, was killed on Oct. 7. Hamas is believed to be holding his body.

Republican senators argued that the statement was a sign of the president-elect’s commitment to Israel’s security.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) called the comments “fantastic” and “exactly right,” arguing that there is historical precedent to believe that “we’re at a moment in time where there’s a real opportunity to bring the hostages home.”

“I hope we are at a similar moment in time to the end of the Jimmy Carter administration, before Reagan was coming in, and obviously in that instance, the Ayatollah released the hostages on Jan. 20. Joe Biden and the outgoing administration are highly incentivized to try to get some foreign policy wins out the door, and I do think the enemies of America are terrified of Donald Trump,” Cruz told Jewish Insider. 

“So I was very grateful for President Trump’s statement calling for the hostages to come home now, for the American hostages to be released, for the Israeli hostages to be released. I think the enemies of America are on notice that there are real consequences, consequences that sadly have been absent the last four years,” he continued.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) wrote on social media in response to the post that he hoped “people in the Middle East are listening. They should be. Let’s end this madness now.”

Graham, told Axios over the weekend that Trump wants a cease-fire and hostage deal before the inauguration, saying, “Trump is more determined than ever to release the hostages and supports a cease-fire that includes a hostage deal. He wants to see it happening now. I want people in Israel and in the region to know that Trump is focused on the hostages issue. He wants the killing to stop and the fighting to end.” 

Asked by JI if Trump believed Hamas could be defeated by January, Graham replied: “I think President Trump wants to end the fighting and get the hostages out.” The South Carolina senator added that while he did not “expect them [the Israelis] to imperil themselves,” he did expect them to “try to get” to peace. 

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) said that Trump’s statement was “an indication of where we need to be” on the foreign policy front. “We’re going to settle a lot of the ambiguity that the current administration’s had with Israeli security, and I think that this is one of several examples where President Trump’s gonna make it pretty clear that it’s a top priority,” Tillis told JI.

“One thing I know about President Trump is that he is not going to have a legacy that has anything less than 100% support for Israeli security,” Tillis said when asked if he worried about a cease-fire hurting Israel’s ability to win the war, adding that he believes Trump “would not accept” any deal that would give Hamas “a chance to rebuild.”

“He has no interest in seeing them even find some corner that they can hide out in,” he said of Trump. 

Several Republicans said such comments from a U.S. leader were overdue while applauding the rhetorical shift from President Joe Biden.

“Thank God someone has grown some oranges around this place. It’s long overdue. All President Biden has done is try to appease the Hamas wing of his party and Hamas. Thank God President Trump said what he said,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) told JI. 

Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) said, “It’s about time somebody showed some strength and some moral clarity on this issue. It’s time to get beyond the talk and to get the remaining ones home, to get all of them home even if it’s unfortunately just their bodies. So somebody needs to show some strength.”

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) said that Trump’s statement was “putting everybody that harbors Hamas” and “those that are funding Hamas” on notice that, “If you’re providing assistance to Hamas, who is keeping the hostages, you’re in the fray too.”

“I’m glad that President Trump is already leading with peace through strength,” Mullin said. “He’s not saying, ‘I’m going to handle this when I get in.’ He’s already leading because there’s a void at the White House. You have an absent Biden-Harris administration, neither one of them are out there leading right now. Trump is taking a step forward by saying, ‘You do it now or when I get in office there’s going to be, in kind words, heck to pay.’”

“It’s us saying that we’re going to be fighting with Israel. We’re standing with Israel. It’s putting everybody else on warning,” Mullin added. 

Some senators said they were skeptical that a cease-fire was realistically possible in the immediate or near future, but all noted that they were confident the incoming Trump administration would not pursue such a path if it hurt Israel’s position. 

“We all want a cease-fire, but the only thing worse than not having a cease-fire is having a bad cease-fire agreement,” Kennedy said. “The reason we are making progress in the Middle East, in my opinion, is because of Israel. Israel ignored what President Biden told them to do and went out and defeated its enemies. And that’s the only thing a lot of these jihadists understand. Weakness invites the wolves, and Israel understands that.”

“I’d love to have a cease-fire, but I applaud Israel for going in and defeating these terrorists. With Hamas, these folks want to kill Jews and kill Americans and drink our blood out of a boot.” he explained. “I don’t think Sen. Graham or President Trump, either one, were talking about a cease-fire at any cost. I think they were talking about a fair cease-fire that Israel would be comfortable with.”

Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) told JI, “It would be great to have our hostages back by the time he was in office, but to be able to have a cease-fire, we’d have to make sure Israel’s security issues were resolved.”

Asked if he worried about a cease-fire harming Israel’s ability to take out Hamas completely, Budd replied: “I wouldn’t want to dictate terms of what Israel needs to do. They’re the best on the ground and a sovereign country, and they should make the best decision for themselves.”