Hours after Hamas released three Israeli hostages on Saturday (Feb 15), US President Donald Trump said that now Israel will decide what they will do about "12:00 O’CLOCK, TODAY, DEADLINE " imposed on the release of all hostages. 

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Trump further stressed that the US will back whatever decision Israel makes.

"Israel will now have to decide what they will do about the 12:00 O’CLOCK, TODAY, DEADLINE imposed on the release of ALL HOSTAGES. The United States will back the decision they make!," Trump said in a post on Truth Social. 

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Also read: Meet Sasha Troufanov, Iair Horn, Sagui Dekel-Chen - Israeli hostages freed by Hamas in latest ceasefire swap 

This comes after Hamas released three hostages from Gaza, including an American citizen. Later, Israel also released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, 36 of them have been serving life sentences, and 333 were detained without charges. 

"Hamas has just released three Hostages from GAZA, including an American Citizen. They seem to be in good shape! This differs from their statement last week that they would not release any Hostages," the US president posted. 

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Also read: Gaza ceasefire: 3 Hamas hostages, dozens of Palestinian prisoners released in latest swap

The deadline Trump is referring to is one he mentioned earlier this week, saying Hamas needed to release "all" hostages by noon today. However, it is unclear what time zone he was referring to, but earlier he said that Israel should let "all hell" break out if the deadline was not met. 

At the beginning of this week, the Palestinian militant group said it would not release any hostages, claiming Israel violated the terms of the ceasefire. 

Also read: 'Buffer zone, physical barrier, 'Trump Fund': Inside the Arab nations' alternative to Trump's Gaza plan

Later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hamas it would end the ceasefire if Hamas does not return hostages by Saturday. 

(With inputs from agencies)