The city of Jerusalem On Monday, the Palestinian militant group Hamas announced that it would stop releasing Israeli hostages until further notice due to Israeli violations of the cease-fire agreement.
In response, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz stated that Hamas’ announcement violated the ceasefire agreement, and that he had directed the military to prepare at the highest level of readiness in Gaza and to defend Israeli communities.
According to Abu Ubaida, a spokesperson for Hamas’ military wing, since the ceasefire went into effect on January 19, Israel has delayed allowing displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza, targeted Gazans with military shelling and gunfire, and stopped relief materials from entering the territory.
The ceasefire has mostly held for the past three weeks, though there have been some incidents in which Palestinians have been killed by Israeli gunfire. The flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza has increased since the ceasefire, according to aid agencies.
Ubaida stated that Hamas would not release any more hostages until Israel “complies and compensates for the past weeks”.
Another exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners was scheduled for Saturday.
Hostage release
So far, 16 of the 33 hostages scheduled to be released during the first 42 days of the agreement have returned home, as have five Thai hostages who were released unexpectedly.
In exchange, Israel has released hundreds of prisoners and detainees, including those serving life sentences for deadly attacks and Palestinians detained during the war and held without charge.
However, Hamas has accused Israel of delaying the delivery of aid to Gaza, which was one of the conditions of the first phase of the agreement, a charge Israel has denied.
In turn, Israel has accused Hamas of violating the order in which the hostages were to be released and of staging abusive public displays before large crowds when they were handed over to the Red Cross.
Earlier, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that an Israeli delegation had returned from ceasefire talks in Qatar, amid growing doubts about the Egyptian and Qatari-brokered process to end the conflict.
There were no immediate details on the reason for the return from the talks, which are intended to establish the basis for a second stage of the multiphase ceasefire agreement and hostage-for-prisoner exchange reached last month.
According to a Palestinian official familiar with the discussions, progress is hampered by mistrust between the two sides, who have accused each other of violating the ceasefire terms.
President Donald Trump’s statements that Palestinians should be relocated from Gaza, leaving the coastal enclave to be developed as a waterfront real estate project under US control, have altered expectations for the postwar future.
On Monday, Fox News released an excerpt from an interview with Trump. When asked about the plan and whether Palestinians would have the right to return, he responded, “No, they wouldn’t.”
“I’m talking about building a permanent place for them because if they have to return now, it’ll be years before you could ever – it’s not habitable.” He stated that he believed he could make an agreement with Egypt and Jordan to take them.
When Netanyahu returned from a visit to Washington over the weekend, he endorsed Trump’s comments, which irritated Egypt, where security sources claimed Israel was “putting up roadblocks” to the smooth progress of the ceasefire agreement, including delays in troop withdrawal and continued aerial surveillance.
Talks on a second stage of the ceasefire, to agree on the release of the remaining hostages and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces, began last week but have made little progress.
“There is a sense of mistrust, especially as Hamas sees a lack of implementation of the first phase of the deal when it comes to the humanitarian protocol and the allowing of the materials into Gaza as per the agreement,” according to an official.
The emaciated appearance of Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Sharabi, and Or Levy, the three hostages who were released on Saturday, shocked Israeli public opinion and complicated the deal’s progress.
