Israel PM says Gaza ceasefire will end if Hamas does not free hostages

Israeli Prime Minister Hamas warned that he would end the ceasefire in Gaza and resume severe fighting if the Palestinian group “does not return our hostages by Saturday noon.”

Benjamin Netanyahu said that he ordered the Israeli forces to collect inside and around Gaza in response to Hamas’s declaration that he was postponing more hostages until further notice.

Netanyahu did not specify whether he was calling for the release of all 76 hostages, or only to be released on Saturday – but a minister said it means “everyone.”

On Monday, Hamas accused Israel of violating the three-week ceasefire deal, including by preventing vital humanitarian aid-a demand that Israel denied.

The group’s decision to delay the issue scheduled for this week, US President Donald Trump, prompted the suggestion that Israel completely eliminates the agreement and “let hell explode” unless all the hostages are returned by Saturday.

After a four -hour meeting of the Israeli Security Council on Tuesday, Netanyahu said in a video statement that he “welcomed President Trump’s request.”

He added: “In light of Hamas’s declaration regarding its decision to violate the agreement and not to release our hostages, last night instructed the Israel Defense Army last night. [Israel Defense Forces] To collect the forces from the inside – and the ocean – the Gaza Strip.

“This procedure is carried out at this hour and will be completed soon.”

Then he issued an alert that he had unanimously.

“If Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon, the ceasefire will end, the Israeli Defense Army will resume severe fighting until the final defeat of Hamas.”

But there were conflicting messages from Israeli officials about whether Netanyahu means that Hamas should launch all the remaining hostages or not.

One of the sources told the Israeli newspaper Haritz that he would be ready to continue the ceasefire if the next group of three hostages was released as planned on Saturday.

But later, Miri Regev, Minister of Transport and Cabinet member of the War Party on X, wrote: “We have made a very clear decision: We are committed to the statement of US President Donald Trump regarding the release of the hostages – on Saturday, everyone will be released!”

Meanwhile, the Israeli Defense Army said it raised the level of its southern leadership’s willingness – who is responsible for the operations in Gaza – and will be strengthened with additional forces, including reserve soldiers.

Earlier on Tuesday, Hamas insisted that the door was open to us, and the Qatari and Egyptian brokers to intervene and restore the ceasefire deal on the right track.

“We don’t want this deal to collapse,” said the Hamas summit.

“We are doing the maximum to avoid any obstacles, i.e. challenges, and therefore we are ready to hand the prisoners next Saturday if the situation is corrected through the mediators.”

He accused Israel of “continuous violations” of the ceasefire deal.

He said that these included the delay in the return of the displaced Palestinians to their household areas in northern Gaza for a period ranging between 48 and 72 hours, and obstructing the delivery operations from supplies, and “threats from Netanyahu, supported by Trump … that they are planning to remove people from two million people from the Gaza Strip” .

Last week, Trump announced a controversial plan for the United States to take over Gaza after the war and transfer it permanently the Palestinians who live there so that it can be rebuilt and converted to “Riviera in the Middle East.” Netanyahu praised the “revolutionary vision” of the president.

The Palestinian Authority, Hamas and the Arab countries categorically rejected the proposal, while the United Nations warned that any forced displacement would be “an ethnic cleansing.”

The first phase of the ceasefire deal is supposed to continue in the six weeks and see a total of 33 Israeli hostages, who were exchanged for about 1900 Palestinian prisoners and detained by Gaza.

So far, 16 live hostages have been released since the ceasefire on January 19. Hamas also handed over more than five Thai hostages outside the conditions of the deal.

The 17 Israeli hostages – two children, one woman, five men over the age of 50, and nine men less than 50 years – are supposed to be released over the next three weeks. The two sides said that eight of these hostages had died, but only one was named.

The deal also witnessed that the Israeli forces withdraw from the densely populated Gaza areas, hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians return to their homes in the north, and hundreds of trucks allowed to the region every day.

The Israeli army launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented attack across the border on October 7, 2023, where about 1,200 people were killed and 251 grooves were taken.

More than 4,8,210 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health in the region.

Most Gaza population has been displaced several times, and approximately 70 % of buildings are estimated at damage or destruction, health care, water, sanitation, and image, have collapsed, and there is a lack of food, fuel, medicine and shelter.