JERUSALEM: Israel threatened on Tuesday to resume “intense fighting” in Gaza if no prisoners were released this weekend, echoing a warning from US President Donald Trump that has strained the fragile truce deal.
Trump, who has taken credit for securing the agreement that went into effect last month, said that “hell” would break out if Hamas failed to release “all” Israeli prisoners by Saturday.
As he was hosting Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House on Tuesday, Trump was asked whether his deadline still held, and said “Yes”. Under the terms of the ceasefire, which has largely halted more than 15 months of fighting in Gaza, prisoners were to be released in batches in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli custody.
So far, Israel and Hamas have completed five prisoner swaps. But the agreement has come under increasing strain in recent days, prompting diplomatic efforts to salvage it.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “if Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon, the ceasefire will end, and the IDF (Israeli military) will resume intense fighting until Hamas is decisively defeated”.
Tensions, which initially spiked after Trump proposed last month taking over Gaza and removing its more than two million inhabitants, have grown following his latest comments. “As far as I’m concerned, if all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday 12 o’clock… I would say cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out,” Trump said on Monday.
Hamas said 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.
Senior Hamas leader Sami Abu Zuhri said Trump’s remark “further complicates matters”. “Trump must remember that there is an agreement that must be respected by both parties and this is the only way to return” the prisoners, he said. His group said it would postpone the next prisoner release, scheduled for Saturday, accusing Israel of violating the deal and calling for it to fulfil its obligations.
Palestinians and the international community have seethed over 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 Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, while Israel said it would release nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. The sides have carried out five swaps since Jan. 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.
