Gaza ceasefire imperiled as Netanyahu threatens to resume 'intense fighting'

Jerusalem: The future of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the territory's long-term fate hung in the balance Tuesday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel warned Hamas that if the scheduled release of hostages did not take place Saturday, Israeli troops would resume "intense fighting."

Netanyahu's warning came after Hamas said Monday it would indefinitely postpone the next round of hostage releases, which he said amounted to a "decision to violate the agreement."

His statement echoed President Donald Trump's demand a day earlier that all remaining hostages must be freed by 12 p.m. Saturday or "all hell is going to break out." But the prime minister did not say that all captives still in Gaza had to be freed; under the terms of the ceasefire, only three were supposed to be let go Saturday.

Netanyahu also reiterated an order he issued Monday night to reinforce troops in and around Gaza, but he did not say they were planning to recapture territory from which Israel had recently withdrawn.

"This operation is currently underway," he said. "It will be completed as soon as possible."

Analysts said it was possible that Israel and Hamas would reach a compromise before Saturday on this weekend's scheduled round of hostage releases. Another hurdle looms in March, when the ceasefire is set to elapse unless Hamas and Israel negotiate an extension.

"The crisis is a prelude for a much bigger crisis that is coming in early March," said Ibrahim Dalalsha, director of the Horizon Center, a political research group in the West Bank of Ramallah.

Trump repeated his ultimatum on freeing the remaining hostages while meeting Tuesday with King Abdullah II of Jordan at the White House. "They either have them out by Saturday at 12 p.m., or all bets are off," the president said.

Trump's pronouncements this week -- including his statements that the United States will take over the devastated territory and that its Palestinian residents have no rights to return -- have infuriated Hamas, flummoxed world leaders and amplified the sense of chaos surrounding the ceasefire negotiations.

Trump has said the United States will rebuild Gaza into the "Riviera of the Middle East," and Monday he threatened to withdraw financial support for Egypt and Jordan unless they take in all the Palestinians who would be displaced by that effort.

During his meeting with King Abdullah on Tuesday, Trump insisted that the United States had the authority to "take" Gaza and that other countries in the region would absorb the Palestinians who live there.

"We will have Gaza," he said. "It's a war-torn area. We're going to take it."

Jordan's parliament last week introduced a bill that would ban the resettlement of Palestinians in the country. But King Abdullah is trying to protect the more than $1.5 billion in foreign aid his country receives from the United States. He said in the meeting that Jordan was willing to take in 2,000 Palestinian children with cancer or otherwise very ill "right away." Trump called the offer "a beautiful gesture."

Hamas, in a statement Tuesday, called Trump's broader proposal of removing Palestinians from Gaza "ethnic cleansing." The group added, "The plan to deport our people from Gaza will not succeed, and they will be faced with a unified Palestinian, Arab and Islamic position that rejects all displacement plans."

On Tuesday, Egypt said in a statement released by a spokesperson for the foreign ministry that it intended to present to the United States a "comprehensive vision for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip" that "ensures the Palestinian people remain in their homeland."

The first phase of the ceasefire deal was struck last month between Israel and Hamas, and it was set to expire March 2. Originally, three Israelis were to be freed this week in the latest hostage-for-prisoner exchange as required under the agreement. Most of the exchanges have taken place on Saturdays.

So far, 16 of 33 Israeli hostages who were set to be released in the first phase of this ceasefire have been freed. About 60 other hostages, some of whom are believed to be dead, were to be released this spring under a second phase of the deal.

In a video posted after a four-hour meeting with his security Cabinet, Netanyahu said Tuesday that he and his top advisers had been shocked by the emaciated appearances of three Israeli men who were freed Saturday.

"The decision I passed in the Cabinet, unanimously, is this: If Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon, the ceasefire will end, and the IDF will resume intense fighting until Hamas is decisively defeated," Netanyahu said in the video, referring to the Israel Defense Forces.

In its threat Monday to delay the next round of hostages to be released, Hamas accused Israel of violating parts of the ceasefire agreement, including by slowing sufficient humanitarian aid in and around Gaza. Israel has denied the claim.

Hamas led the attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that started the war, killed about 1,200 people and led to the abduction of 250 others to Gaza. Israel retaliated by bombarding the territory and displacing millions of Palestinians. At least 48,000 Palestinians have been killed during the fighting, according to local health officials, who do not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Millions of Palestinians are returning to neighborhoods in ruins.

The current standoff stems in part from Hamas' accusation that Israel has not upheld its promises for the first phase of the ceasefire. Israel was required to send hundreds of thousands of tents into Gaza, a promise that Hamas says Israel has not kept.

Three Israeli officials and two mediators, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, said that Hamas' claims were accurate. But COGAT, the Israeli military unit that oversees aid deliveries, said in a written response that Hamas' accusations were "completely false."

It added, "Hundreds of thousands of tents have entered Gaza since the beginning of the agreement, as well as fuel, generators and everything Israel pledged."

Regardless, officials and commentators say the dispute can be resolved relatively easily if Israel allows more aid to Gaza. More serious, they say, is the widespread perception that Netanyahu is undermining the negotiations over an extended truce. Those talks were to begin early last week. Instead, Netanyahu delayed sending a team to Qatar, which is mediating talks, until early this week.

That delegation consisted of three officials who have not previously led Israel's negotiating effort, according to five Israeli officials and an official from one of the mediating countries. And their mandate was only to listen, not to negotiate.

That created the perception that Netanyahu was playing for time rather than trying to extend the truce. All the officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private talks more freely.

Omer Dostri, a spokesperson for the Israeli prime minister, said that Netanyahu was "working tirelessly to return all hostages held by the Hamas terrorist organisation." Dostri added that Israel would send negotiators to discuss the deal's extension after Israel's position had been set by the Cabinet.

Netanyahu has often said that Hamas will not remain in power after the war. Key members of his governing coalition have expressed a wish to resume the war to oust Hamas, despite calls from much of the Israeli public and relatives of the captives for an extension of the truce to free the remaining hostages, even if it leaves the militant group in power.

A Hamas official, Mahmoud Mardawi, said that the group's warning Monday had been in response mainly to the disagreements over humanitarian aid. But analysts said that it was also an attempt to force Netanyahu to negotiate earnestly and was probably a reaction to Trump's statements about depopulating Gaza.

"There's an anger among Hamas about the demands of both Netanyahu and Trump that Hamas will be kicked out of Gaza," said Michael Milshtein, an Israeli analyst of Palestinian affairs.

"The announcement yesterday was a kind of a signal that, if you continue demanding this, there will be several dramatic crises," he added.