Hamas postpones release of more hostages ‘until further notice’
JERUSALEM — Hamas has indefinitely postponed the release of Israeli hostages who were set to be freed from the Gaza Strip this weekend, a spokesperson said Monday, accusing Israel’s government of violating an already fragile ceasefire agreement.
The move threatens to derail both the six-week truce agreed to last month and the prospects for agreement on a lasting end to the war. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was consulting with his top advisers Monday night, and planned to move up a scheduled meeting with his security Cabinet to Tuesday morning, a top official said.
Hours later, President Donald Trump issued an ultimatum to Hamas on Monday evening, saying that if all Israeli hostages were not released from Gaza by noon Saturday, then the ceasefire agreement with Israel should be canceled and “all hell is going to break out.”
“Israel can override it, but from myself, Saturday at 12 o’clock, and if they’re not, they’re not here, all hell is going to break out,” Trump said while signing executive orders at the White House in front of reporters.
Asked whether he meant retaliation from Israel, the president said: “You’ll find out, and they’ll find out, too. Hamas will find out what I mean.” Asked whether he would rule out any U.S. involvement after the Saturday deadline, Trump said, “We’ll see what happens.”
Hamas and Israel have accused each other of violating various aspects of the ceasefire agreement, but they have continued to release Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners each week.
The group’s statement on postponing the hostage release came shortly after the publication of a clip of a Fox News interview in which Trump said Palestinians would not be allowed to return to Gaza under his plan to relocate the entire population — which Hamas and much of the international community have rejected emphatically. Later, he said he could cut aid to Jordan and Egypt if they refused his demand to permanently take in most Palestinians from Gaza.
Earlier Monday, a Hamas spokesperson in Gaza, Hazem Qasem, said “new demands are not acceptable.”
“We have an agreement to implement,” Qasem told a Saudi-based TV station, Al-Hadath. “We are open to ideas regarding a new form of Palestinian government and administration of Gaza, but not to the deportation.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.