WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM: The Zionist entity threatened on Tuesday to resume "intense fighting” in Gaza if no captives were released this weekend, echoing a warning from US President Donald Trump that has strained the fragile truce deal. Trump, who has taken credit for securing the agreement that went into effect last month, said that "hell” would break out if Hamas failed to release "all” Zionist hostages by Saturday.
As he was hosting Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House on Tuesday, Trump was asked whether his deadline still held, and said "Yes”. King Abdullah told Trump that his country was ready to take in some 2,000 sick children from war-torn Gaza, as Trump pushed his idea of removing all Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and finding them homes in Jordan and Egypt, then turning their territory into a high-end "riviera”.
King Abdullah said Egypt would present a plan on working with the US over Washington’s Gaza takeover proposal. President Trump "is looking at Egypt coming to present that plan. As I said, we will be in Saudi Arabia to discuss how we should work with the president and with the United States”. "Let’s wait until the Egyptians can come and present it to the president.”
Under the terms of the ceasefire, which has largely halted more than 15 months of fighting in Gaza, captives were to be released in batches in exchange for Palestinians in Zionist custody. So far, the Zionist entity and Hamas have completed five captive-prisoner swaps. But the agreement has come under increasing strain in recent days, prompting diplomatic efforts to salvage it. Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that "if Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon, the ceasefire will end, and the IDF (Zionist military) will resume intense fighting until Hamas is decisively defeated”. Tensions, which initially spiked after Trump proposed last month taking over Gaza and removing its more than two million inhabitants, have grown following his latest comments. "As far as I’m concerned, if all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday 12 o’clock... I would say cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out,” Trump said on Monday.
Senior Hamas leader Sami Abu Zuhri said Trump’s remark "further complicates matters”. "Trump must remember that there is an agreement that must be respected by both parties and this is the only way to return” the captives, he told AFP. His group said it would postpone the next captive release, scheduled for Saturday, accusing the Zionist entity of violating the deal and calling for it to fulfil its obligations.
Netanyahu’s statement, issued after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, did not specify whether he was referring to all captives, but his Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right leader, called on the premier to "open the gates of hell” if the Zionist entity doesn’t get back "all the hostages... by Saturday”. "No more phases, no more games,” Smotrich said in a statement.
UN chief Antonio Guterres has urged Hamas to proceed with the planned release. "We must avoid at all costs resumption of hostilities in Gaza that would lead to immense tragedy,” he said on X. Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who are aligned with Hamas and have launched attacks throughout the war in support of the Palestinians, said on Tuesday they were "ready to launch a military intervention at any time in case of escalation against Gaza”. The Zionist military said in a statement that it had decided "to raise the level of readiness” of its forces near the Gaza Strip and "increase reinforcements with additional troops, including reservists”.
Outside Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem, several families of captives rallied with pictures of their loved ones, calling for the implementation of the existing deal. "We can’t afford another arm wrestling between the sides. There is a deal. Go for it!” said Zahiro, whose uncle, Avraham Munder, died in captivity in Gaza. Relatives of four hostages said on Tuesday that recently freed captives told them that their loved ones were alive, but shared concerning details about their conditions.
In Gaza, concerns over the fate of the ceasefire were prevalent. "I pray that the ceasefire holds, but there are no guarantees because the ruling faction in (the Zionist entity) wants war, and I believe there is also a faction within Hamas that wants war,” said Adnan Qassem, 60, from Deir el-Balah. "The people are the ones who suffer and pay the price.”
Talks on a second phase were supposed to start on day 16 of the truce, but the Zionist entity had refused to send negotiators to Doha. The health ministry in Gaza said the war has killed at least 48,218 people in the territory, mostly civilians. A UN report issued on Tuesday said that more than $53 billion will be required to rebuild Gaza and end the "humanitarian catastrophe” in the devastated territory. – Agencies