Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to withdraw from the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and resume the fight against Hamas if the militant group does not go ahead with the next scheduled release of hostages on Saturday.
Hamas said on Monday – and reiterated on Tuesday – that it planned to delay the release of three more hostages after accusing Israel of failing to meet the terms of the ceasefire, including by not allowing enough tents and other aid into Gaza.
US President Donald Trump has emboldened Israel to call for the release of even more remaining hostages on Saturday, but it was not immediately clear whether Mr Netanyahu’s threat referred to the release of all remaining hostages in Gaza, or just the three scheduled for release on Saturday.
Earlier on Tuesday, an Israeli official said Mr Netanyahu ordered the army to add more troops in and around the Gaza Strip.
Mr Netanyahu also ordered officials “to prepare for every scenario if Hamas doesn’t release our hostages this Saturday,” according to the official.
Israel had signalled on Monday it planned to reinforce defences along the Gaza border. The all-scenario plan was announced during a four-hour meeting between Mr Netanyahu and his Security Cabinet that focused on Hamas’s threat, which risks jeopardising the three-week-old ceasefire.
So far, Hamas has released 21 hostages in a series of exchanges for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
President Trump has said Israel should cancel the entire ceasefire if all of the roughly 70 hostages are not freed by Saturday.
Hamas brushed off his threat on Tuesday, doubling down on its claim that Israel has violated the ceasefire and warned that it would only continue releasing hostages if all parties adhered to the ceasefire.
Mr Trump is hosting Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House on Tuesday as he escalates pressure on the Arab nation to take in refugees from Gaza – perhaps permanently – as part of his audacious plan to remake the Middle East.
Palestinians and the international community have seethed over Mr Trump’s recent comments that any Palestinians potentially expelled from Gaza would not have a right to return.
During the first six-week phase of the ceasefire, Hamas committed to freeing 33 hostages captured in its attack on Israel on October 7 2023, while Israel said it would release nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. The sides have carried out five swaps since January 19.
The war could resume in early March if no agreement is reached on the more complicated second phase of the ceasefire, which calls for the return of all remaining hostages and an indefinite extension of the truce.
But if Israel resumes the war, it will face a drastically different battlefield.
After forcing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to evacuate to southern Gaza in the early stages of the war, Israel allowed many of those displaced people to return to what is left of their homes, posing a new challenge to its ability to move ground troops through the territory.
Published: by Radio NewsHub
