Hamas has accused Israel of violating the ceasefire with continued violence and by preventing the entry of essential items. [Getty]
Israel on Wednesday threatened to launch a “new” war on Gaza and implement US President Donald Trump’s plan to displace Palestinians if the group does not release captives this weekend.
The remarks by Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz came shortly after Palestinian group Hamas said it would not bow down to US and Israeli “threats” over the release of captives under a fragile truce deal.
Mediators Qatar and Egypt were pushing to salvage the ceasefire agreement that came into effect last month, a Palestinian source and a diplomat familiar with the talks told AFP, while Hamas said its top negotiator was in Cairo.
The truce has largely halted more than 15 months of fighting and seen Israeli captives released in small groups in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli custody.
But the deal, currently in its 42-day first phase, has come under increasing strain.
Hamas has accused Israel of violating the ceasefire with continued violence and by preventing the entry of essential items.
Katz said Israel would resume its war if Hamas fails to free captives on Saturday, when a sixth captive exchange was scheduled under the terms of the agreement.
Hamas has said it would postpone the release citing Israeli violations, and hours later, Trump warned that “hell” would break loose if the Palestinian group failed to release “all” captives by then.
If the onslaught resumes, Katz said, “the new Gaza war… will not end without the defeat of Hamas and the release of all the hostages”.
“It will also allow the realisation of US President Trump’s vision for Gaza,” he added.
Israel has repeatedly vowed to defeat Hamas and release all the captives taken by Hamas and other Palestinian groups on 7 October, 2023.Â
Hamas has insisted it remained “committed to the ceasefire” and said its chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya was in Cairo on Wednesday for meetings and to monitor “the implementation of the ceasefire agreement”.
Egypt’s state-linked Al-Qahera News, citing an Egyptian official, said that mediators in Cairo and Doha were “intensifying their diplomatic efforts in an attempt to save the Gaza ceasefire agreement”.
UN chief Antonio Guterres has urged Hamas to proceed with the planned release and “avoid at all costs resumption of hostilities in Gaza”.
The International Committee of the Red Cross, which has facilitated the captive swaps, urged the parties to maintain the ceasefire.
“Hundreds of thousands of lives depend on it,” including “all of the remaining hostages” and Gazans who “need respite from violence and access to life-saving humanitarian aid”, the ICRC said.
Trump’s plan
Trump had proposed taking over Gaza and expelling its more than two million residents to Jordan or Egypt — a plan experts say constitutes ethnic cleansing and would violate international law.
Hamas called for worldwide “solidarity marches” over the weekend to denounce “the plans to displace our Palestinian people from their land”.
Katz last week ordered the army to prepare for “voluntary” departures from Gaza. The military said it has already begun reinforcing its troops around Gaza.
Trump reaffirmed his Saturday deadline for the hostage release when hosting Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Tuesday.
In a phone call Wednesday, Abdullah and Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said they were united in supporting the “full implementation” of the ceasefire, “the continued release of hostages and prisoners, and facilitating the entry of humanitarian aid”, according to a statement from the Egyptian presidency.
