Israeli Prime Minister says the Gaza ceasefire will end if Hamas does not release the hostages
The Israeli Prime Minister warned that Hamas would end the Gaza ceasefire and that if Palestinian groups “do not return hostages by noon on Saturday,” they would resume a fierce battle.
Benjamin Netanyahu said that Hamas ordered Israeli troops to be gathered inside and around Gaza in response to an announcement that he had postponed the release of more hostages until further notice.
It was not clear whether Netanyahu had requested the release of all 76 hostages, or just three that were scheduled to be released this Saturday.
On Monday, Hamas said they would delay their release after breaching a three-week-old ceasefire contract, including claims that Israel denied, including blocking important humanitarian aid.
With the group’s decision, US President Donald Trump urged Israel to cancel the agreement and propose a “broken hell” unless “all hostages” are returned by Saturday.
Hamas said in a statement Tuesday that the doors are open for us, Qatar and Egyptian intermediaries to intervene and get a ceasefire deal.
Senior Hamas officials also dismissed what he called Trump’s “language of threat.”
The standoff that spans the rest of the hostages comes a week after Trump announced a controversial plan to take over Gaza after the war and relocate the 2 million Palestinians who live there forever.
Palestinian authority, Hamas and the Arab states have defied the proposal, but the UN warned that forced displacement is “equivalent to ethnic cleansing.”
The first phase of the ceasefire contract is expected to last six weeks, with a total of 33 Israeli hostages being exchanged for around 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and Gaza detainees.
So far, 16 living hostages have been released since the ceasefire came into effect on January 19th. Hamas also handed over five Thai hostages outside the terms of the transaction.
The remaining 17 Israeli hostages – two children, one woman, five men over 50, and nine men under 50 are due to be released in the next three weeks . Both sides say eight of those hostages are dead, but only one name.
The deal led Israeli forces to withdraw from Gaza’s densely populated areas, with hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians returning to their homes north and hundreds of trucks of aid entering the territory every day.
Israeli forces launched a campaign on October 7, 2023 to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack. Around 1,200 people were killed there and 251 were taken hostages.
Since then, more than 48,210 people have been killed in Gaza.
The majority of Gaza’s population is difficult to avoid, with nearly 70% of buildings being damaged or destroyed, medical, water, sanitation and sanitation systems being disrupted, and there is a shortage of food, fuel, medicines and shelter.