Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel warned Hamas on Tuesday that if hostages were not released by noon on Saturday, the cease-fire in the war in the Gaza Strip would end and Israeli troops would resume “intense fighting.”
Mr. Netanyahu said that Hamas’s threat on Monday to postpone the next round of hostage releases amounted to a decision to violate the cease-fire agreement. Mr. Netanyahu did not specify how many hostages would have to be freed to stop a renewed war. The prime minister’s office declined to confirm how many hostages he was referring to.
His statements closely echoed President Trump’s ultimatum on Monday evening to Hamas that said if all remaining Israeli hostages were not released from Gaza by 12 o’clock on Saturday, then the cease-fire agreement with Israel should be canceled and “all hell is going to break out.”
Originally, three Israelis were to be freed this week in the latest hostage-for-prisoner exchange as required by the cease-fire deal to end the war that began with the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Most of the exchanges so far have taken place on Saturdays.
So far, 16 of 33 Israeli hostages set to be released in the first phase of this cease-fire have been freed. About 60 other hostages, some of whom are believed to be dead, were to be released later this spring under a second phase of the deal.
