A spokesperson for the armed wing of Hamas says the group is postponing the next scheduled release of Israeli hostages, blaming what he said were Israeli violations of the ceasefire deal.
Three hostages held in Gaza are due to be freed on Saturday in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
Abu Obeida said the releases would not go ahead until Israel complied with its obligations. He said violations included delaying the return of displaced Palestinians to the north, firing on people, and failing to allow into Gaza humanitarian aid “in all its agreed-upon forms”.
Israel’s defence minister called the announcement “a complete violation of the ceasefire agreement”.
Israel Katz said he had ordered the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) “to prepare at the highest level of alert for any possible scenario in Gaza and to protect the communities.
“We will not allow a return to the reality of 7 October [2023],” when Hamas attacked Israel, triggering the war.
Hamas’s statement is the latest in a series of recriminatory actions between the two sides.
Israel delayed by two days allowing displaced Palestinians to return to the north of the Gaza Strip, accusing Hamas of reneging on a commitment to free a female Israeli civilian hostage.
Israel also recently briefly delayed buses taking Palestinian prisoners to be released into the occupied West Bank after expressing anger over the way in which hostages were released through crowds of spectators in Gaza hours earlier.
On Friday, Hamas exceeded by a short time a deadline to release the names of hostages to be released on Saturday as required under the ceasefire, prompting concern in Israel. This came after it accused Israel of failing to abide by its commitment to boost the amount of humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza –contradicting what had been described by the UN’s humanitarian chief as a “massive surge”.
Since the ceasefire began on 19 January, 16 Israeli and five Thai hostages have been released in exchange for 566 prisoners.
By the end of the first stage of the ceasefire in three weeks’ time, 33 hostages and 1,900 prisoners are expected to have been freed. Israel says eight of the 33 are dead.
Hamas took 251 hostages and killed about 1,200 people when it attacked on 23 October. Israel launched a military campaign in response, killing at least 48,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Seventy-three hostages taken on 7 October, and three others taken a decade earlier, are still being held in Gaza.
