Netanyahu: War will break out if hostages are not released by Saturday
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that the ceasefire in Gaza will be broken and an intense military operation will begin if the Palestinian independence militant group Hamas does not release its hostages by Saturday afternoon. He even commented that the Israeli forces will fight until Hamas is finally defeated.
This information was reported by several international media outlets including the BBC, Al Jazeera, and the Times of Israel.
In a post on the social media platform X, Netanyahu said, “If Hamas does not return our prisoners by Saturday afternoon, the ceasefire will end and (the Israeli army) will return to intense fighting until Hamas is finally defeated.”
The report said that the ceasefire in Gaza has been in effect since January 19. The three-phase ceasefire agreement includes prisoner exchanges and permanent peace, a permanent ceasefire, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. But Hamas has accused Israel of violating the main provisions of the agreement.
Hamas said Israeli violations of the ceasefire had reached a point where it was no longer negotiable and was indefinitely postponing the upcoming release of Israeli prisoners.
On Monday, Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said that “the resistance leadership has observed the enemy’s violations of the agreement and their refusal to comply with the terms of the agreement. Meanwhile, Hamas continues to fulfill all its obligations.”
Hamas also said that the door to a prisoner exchange would remain open if Israel fulfilled all its obligations. The Hamas spokesman accused Israel of delaying the return of displaced Palestinians in northern Gaza, firing on civilians and failing to allow humanitarian aid.
Netanyahu then accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire in a series of tweets on Tuesday, saying he had ordered the Israeli military to “mass forces in and around the Gaza Strip.”
Hamas has so far released 21 prisoners as part of the deal, in a series of exchanges for hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli jails. Originally, 16 Israelis and five Thais were released since the ceasefire began on January 19. In exchange, 566 prisoners have been released from Israeli prisons.
A total of 33 prisoners and 1,900 prisoners are scheduled to be exchanged in the first phase of the ceasefire over three weeks. Israel said eight of the 33 are no longer alive. Hamas held a total of 251 people during its unprecedented offensive on Israel in October 2023.
In response, Israel launched a massive offensive in the Gaza Strip, killing a total of 48,000 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
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