Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued an ultimatum on Tuesday, saying the Gaza ceasefire would be cancelled and “intense fighting” would resume if Hamas does not release captives by noon on Saturday.
“The military will return to intense fighting until Hamas is finally defeated,” he said in a video statement after a four-hour cabinet meeting. “Last night, I ordered the IDF to assemble forces inside and around the Gaza Strip.”
The statement comes a day after US President Donald Trump threatened to cancel the ceasefire if Israeli captives are not released, telling reporters on Monday that “all hell is going to break out” if they are not returned.
The statements come after Hamas said it would delay the release of the next tranche of captives “until further notice”, accusing Israel of failing to comply with the terms of the truce deal.
Trump had also expressed frustration at the conditions of the recent batch of Israeli captives released by Hamas, noting his scepticism regarding whether the remaining captives are alive.
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“I think a lot of the hostages are dead,” he said.
As the wrangling over the ceasefire continues, Jordan’s King Abdullah is in Washington meeting with US President Donald Trump, making him the first Arab leader to meet with Trump since his return to the White House.
Speaking before the meeting with the king, Trump told reporters that he doesn’t think Hamas will return the captives and reiterated that if they aren’t returned, then “all bets are off”.
Forcing Palestinians out of Gaza
Last week, Trump doubled down on plans to forcibly expel Palestinians from the enclave and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East”, with the US taking over the territory and owning it.
He has repeatedly stated that Jordan and Egypt will take in Palestinians from Gaza – an idea that Amman and Cairo have flatly rejected.
On Friday, thousands of Jordanians took to the streets in Amman to protest against Trump’s plans.
On Monday, the president suggested that he could deny aid to Jordan and Egypt if they didn’t accept his proposal.
“If they don’t agree, I would conceivably withhold aid,” he said ahead of the meeting with King Abdullah.
Jordan receives $1.45bn a year in US aid, which plays a key role in funding development programmes in the country. But Jordanian officials have told Middle East Eye the country is prepared to go without it.
“American aid is important and necessary for the budget, constituting 10 percent of the state’s budget, but if it is linked to the issue of relocation, we will not hesitate to forgo it,” an official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told MEE for an earlier article.
