(A7) US President Donald Trump spoke to the press before the first cabinet meeting of his current term and discussed the release of four deceased hostages from Hamas captivity.

.@POTUS on Gaza: “I’m very disappointed… four bodies came in today… We got a lot of hostages back, but it’s very sad what happened to those people… This is a vicious group of people, and Israel’s going to have to decide what they’re doing.” pic.twitter.com/cvYaCOe8Pi

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 26, 2025

Flanked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the President answered a question about the chances of reaching phase two of the deal between Israel and Hamas. “I’m very disappointed when I see four bodies came in today. These were young people – young people don’t die. They (Hamas) think they’re doing us a favor by sending us bodies,” Trump replied.

He noted that the decision has to be made by Israel and added: “We got a lot of hostages back but it’s very sad what happened to those people. We had a young lady with her hand practically blown off. Do you know why it blew off? Because she put up her hand to try to stop a bullet that was coming her way.”

Trump referred to Hamas as “a vicious group of people, and Israel’s going to have to decide what they’re doing. Phase one is going to be ending. Think of it, today they sent in four bodies – bodies!”

He clarified that he spoke with many of the families and “they want those bodies almost as much and maybe even just as much as they wanted their son or their daughter, it’s amazing.”

The President also mentioned the poor conditions of the living hostages who were released: “When I saw the ones who came in two weeks ago, they looked like they just got out of a concentration camp. Then the following week a group came in and they weren’t in as bad a shape.”

He concluded that it was a “very sad situation. At some point, somebody’s going to say: ‘We got to do something about this.'”