GAZA: The Zionist entity warned Thursday that Hamas must release three living captives this weekend or face a resumption of the war in Gaza, after the Palestinian group said it was committed to the truce agreement. Palestinian sources reported progress in efforts to salvage the ceasefire, which was plunged into crisis after Hamas said it would not release captives on Saturday, citing Zionist violations.
The Zionist entity countered that if Hamas failed to free captives on schedule, it would resume military operations. War raged for more than 15 months before the ceasefire took effect on Jan 19. "We are keen to implement it (the ceasefire) and oblige the occupation to fully abide by it,” Hamas spokesman Abdel Latif Al-Qanou said, adding that mediators were pushing for the Zionist entity "to resume the exchange process on Saturday”. Hamas said it remained committed to carrying out the next exchange "according to the specified timetable”.
The Zionist entity later insisted Hamas must release "three live hostages” on Saturday under the ceasefire framework. "If those three are not released, if Hamas does not return our hostages, by Saturday noon, the ceasefire will end,” said government spokesman David Mencer.
Hamas has previously accused the Zionist entity of holding up the delivery of heavy machinery needed to clear war debris. On Egypt’s Rafah border crossing with Gaza, a row of bulldozers lined up waiting to enter the war-ravaged Palestinian territory on Thursday. Egyptian state-linked media said heavy equipment and trucks carrying mobile homes were ready to enter, but the Zionist entity said later they would not be allowed to go in via the Rafah crossing.
The war damaged or destroyed around 69 percent of Gaza’s buildings, according to the UN. Jorge Moreira da Silva, head of the United Nations’ infrastructure agency (UNOPS), said Thursday following a visit to Gaza that he had seen not only "immense human suffering”, despite the ceasefire, but also massive destruction "and an overwhelming volume of rubble”.
US President Donald Trump warned this week that "hell” would break loose if Hamas failed to release "all” the remaining hostages by noon on Saturday. If fighting resumes, Zionist Defense Minister Israel 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 realization of US President Trump’s vision for Gaza,” he added.
Trump, whose return to the White House has emboldened the Zionist far right, sparked global outcry with a proposal for the United States to take over Gaza and to move its 2.4 million residents to Egypt or Jordan. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels threatened Thursday to launch new attacks on the Zionist entity if it and its ally the United States went ahead with Trump’s plan to move Palestinians out of Gaza.
The ceasefire, currently in its first phase, has seen Zionist captives released in small groups in exchange for Palestinians in Zionist custody. The two sides, which have yet to agree on the next phases of the truce, have traded accusations of violations, spurring concern that the violence could resume. On Thursday, the Zionist military said it identified a rocket launch from Gaza but it landed back inside the Palestinian territory. The Zionist entity later said it had struck the launcher. Such rocket fire from Gaza has been rare during the truce.
Analyst Mairav Zonszein of the International Crisis Group said despite their public disputes, the Zionist entity and Hamas were still interested in maintaining the truce and have not "given up on anything yet”. "They’re just playing power games,” she said. In the Zionist entity, dozens of relatives of hostages held in Gaza blocked a highway near commercial hub Tel Aviv, waving banners and demanding the terms of the ceasefire be respected, an AFP photographer said.
Hamas called for worldwide "solidarity marches” over the weekend to denounce "the plans to displace our Palestinian people from their land”. Many Palestinians have also voiced opposition to the plan. "Who is Trump? Is he God almighty? The land of Jordan is for Jordanians, and the land of Egypt belongs to Egyptians,” said Gaza City resident Abu Mohamed Al-Husari. "We are here, deeply rooted in Gaza — the resilient, besieged and unbreakable Gaza.” The Zionist campaign has killed at least 48,222 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians. – AFP