Hamas kidnapped eight U.S. citizens on Oct. 7, and Russia holds two Americans that the U.S. State Department considers “wrongfully detained,” including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was sentenced to 16 years in a Russian penal colony on Friday for “espionage.”

“We want our hostages back. And they better be back before I assume office, or you will be paying a very big price,’’ declared former U.S. President Donald Trump as he addressed on Thursday the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

It is unclear if Trump was speaking about the American-Israeli hostages or all of the  Israeli hostages. Assumably, he was speaking of the American hostages since that was a repeating theme during the convention.

Eight Americans are still captives of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Accepting the Republican presidential nomination for the November election, the former president promised ‘’to end every single international crisis the current administration has created.’’

He claimed the October 7 attack on Israel wouldn’t have happened under his presidency. He said that he would end “the war caused by the attack on Israel.”