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The future of the ceasefire in Gaza and the long-term fate of the territory were suspended on Tuesday when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel warned Hamas that if the planned hostages did not take place on Saturday , Israeli troops would resume “intense fights.
The warning of Mr. Netanyahu came after Hamas said on Monday that he would indefinitely report the next cycle of hostages, which, according to him, was equivalent to a “decision to violate the agreement”.
His statement echoes President Trump’s request one day earlier than all the remaining hostages were to be released at 12 noon on Saturday or “all hell will break out”. But the Prime Minister did not say that all the captives still in Gaza should be released; Under the ceasefire, only three were supposed to be released on Saturday.
Netanyahu also reiterated a prescription he made on Monday evening to strengthen the troops in Gaza and its surroundings, but he did not say that they planned to recover a territory from which Israel had recently withdrew .
“This operation is currently underway,” he said. “It will be completed as soon as possible.”
Analysts said it was possible that Israel and Hamas will reach a compromise before Saturday during the planned hostage series this weekend. Another obstacle is looming in March, when the ceasefire should flow unless Hamas and Israel negotiate an extension.
“The crisis is a prelude for a much greater crisis that arrives in early March,” said Ibrahim Dalalsha, director of the Horizon Center, a political research group in the West Bank in Ramallah.
Trump repeated his ultimatum to release the remaining hostages while meeting King Abdullah II of Jordan on Tuesday. “They either had them on Saturday at 12 noon or all bets are disabled,” said the president.
Mr. Trump’s statements this week – including his statements that the United States will take control of the devastated territory and that its Palestinian residents have no right to return – have exasperated Hamas, world leaders and amplified the meaning Chaos surrounding the negotiations of this cease-fire.
Trump said the United States rebuilding Gaza in the “Middle East Riviera” and on Monday, he threatened to withdraw financial support for Egypt and Jordan unless they take all the Palestinians who would be moved by this effort.
During his meeting with King Abdullah on Tuesday, Trump insisted that the United States had the power to “take” Gaza and that other countries in the region would absorb the Palestinians who live there.
“We will have Gaza,” he said. “It is an area torn apart by war. We will take it.
Last week, the Parliament of Jordan presented a bill which would prohibit the resettlement of the Palestinians in the country. But King Abdullah tries to protect the more than $ 1.5 billion in foreign aid that his country receives from the United States. He said at the meeting that Jordan was willing to accept 2,000 Palestinian children with cancer or otherwise very badly “immediately”. Trump called the “a beautiful gesture” offer.
Hamas, in a statement on Tuesday, described Mr. Trump’s broader proposal to withdraw the Gazans from “ethnic cleaning”. The group added: “The plan to expel our people from Gaza will not succeed, and they will be faced with a unified Palestinian, Arab and Islamic position which rejects all travel plans.”
Tuesday, Egypt said in a statement published by a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which he intended to present in the United States a “complete vision of the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip” which “guarantees The Palestinian people remain in their country of origin ”.
The first phase of the ceasefire agreement was concluded last month between Israel and Hamas, and it was to expire on March 2. Originally, three Israelis were to be released this week in the last exchange of-prison hostages required under the agreement. Most exchanges took place on Saturday.
Until now, 16 of the 33 Israeli hostages which were to be released in the first phase of this ceasefire have been released. About 60 other hostages, some of which should be dead, were to be released later this spring in the second phase of the agreement.
In a video published after a four -hour meeting with his security firm, Netanyahu said on Tuesday that he and his best advisers had been shocked by the emaciated appearances of three Israeli men who were released last Saturday.
“The decision I adopted in the cabinet, unanimously, is as follows: if Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon, the ceasefire will end and the FDI will take up fights Intense until Hamas is definitively defeated, “Netanyahu said in the video, referring to Israeli defense forces.
In its threat Monday to delay the next hostage series to be released, Hamas accused Israel of having violated parts of the ceasefire agreement, including by slowing sufficient humanitarian aid to Gaza and its surroundings. Israel denied the complaint.
Hamas led the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war, killed around 1,200 people and led to the abduction of 250 others in Gaza. Israel retaliated by bombing the territory and moving millions of Palestinians. At least 48,000 gasans were killed during fighting, according to local health officials, who do not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Millions of Palestinians return to ruined neighborhoods.
The current confrontation follows in part from the accusation of Hamas that Israel has not confirmed its promises for the first phase of the ceasefire. Israel was to send hundreds of thousands of tents to Gaza, a promise that Hamas says that Israel did not hold.
Three Israeli officials and two mediators, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue, said Hamas’ claims were correct. But Cogat, the Israeli military unity that oversees aid deliveries, said in a written response that Hamas accusations were “completely false”.
He added: “Hundreds of thousands of tents have entered Gaza since the beginning of the agreement, as well as fuel, generators and all that Israel has committed.”
Be that as it may, managers and commentators say that the dispute can be resolved relatively easily if Israel allows more aid to Gaza. More seriously, they say, is the general perception that Mr. Netanyahu undermines negotiations on a prolonged truce. These discussions were to start at the beginning of last week. Instead, Netanyahu delayed the sending of a team to Qatar, who mediate the discussions until the beginning of this week.
This delegation was made up of three officials who had not previously directed the negotiation effort of Israel, according to five Israeli officials and one of the countries of mediation. And their mandate was only to listen, not to negotiate.
This created the perception that Mr. Netanyahu played for time rather than trying to extend the truce. All those responsible spoke under the cover of anonymity to discuss private talks more freely.
Omer Dostri, spokesperson for the Israeli Prime Minister, said that Mr. Netanyahu “worked tirelessly to return all the hostages held by the Hamas terrorist organization”. Mr. Dostri added that Israel would send negotiators to discuss the extension of the agreement after the post of Israel has been set by the cabinet.
Netanyahu has often said that Hamas will not stay in power after the war. The key members of its power coalition expressed a wish to resume war to oust Hamas, despite the calls of a large part of the Israeli public and the parents of the captives for an extension of the truce to release the remaining hostages, even If he leaves the militant group in power.
An official in Hamas, Mahmoud Mardawi, said that the group warning on Monday was mainly in response to disagreements on humanitarian aid. But analysts said it was also an attempt to force Netanyahu to negotiate seriously and was probably a reaction to Mr. Trump’s statements on Gaza’s depopulation.
“There is anger among Hamas on the requirements of Netanyahu and Trump that Hamas will be expelled from Gaza,” said Michael Milshtein, Israeli analyst in Palestinian affairs.
“The announcement yesterday was a kind of signal that, if you continue to demand this, there will be several dramatic crises,” he added.
The reports were brought by Gabby Sobelman,, Natan Odenheimer,, Ephrat Livni,, Aaron Boxerman And Zolan Kanno-Youngs.
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