CV NEWS FEED // After Hamas announced Monday that it is suspending its scheduled hostage releases and accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of violating the terms of the ceasefire deal negotiated last month, President Donald Trump threatened to end the ceasefire unless all hostages are released by noon Saturday.
“If all the Gaza hostages aren’t returned by Saturday at 12 p.m., I would say cancel the ceasefire,” Trump said Monday, according to the Jerusalem Post. “Let all hell break loose; Israel can override it.”
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) had reported that “Hamas announced the suspension on Telegram, blaming Israel’s ‘failure to comply with the terms of the [ceasefire] agreement.’”
“The statement accused Israel of ‘delaying the return of displaced persons to northern Gaza’, ‘targeting them with shelling and gunfire in various areas of the Strip’, and of breaching the agreement on aid supplies,” the BBC report continued. “In response, Israel accused Hamas of a ‘complete violation of the ceasefire agreement and the deal to release the hostages.’”
Also per the BBC, Hamas later stated that “the ‘door remains open’ to the next exchange of Israeli and Palestinian prisoners. The next exchange would have been due to take place Saturday.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), a French news agency, Hamas said via a follow-up to its original statement that it “intentionally made this announcement five days before the scheduled prisoner handover, allowing mediators ample time to pressure the [Israeli] occupation towards fulfilling its obligations.”
The New York Times reported that Hamas said its freeze on the release of hostages was “until further notice.”
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“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,” the Times indicated. Netanyahu “was consulting with his top advisers on Monday night, and planned to move up a scheduled meeting with his security cabinet to Tuesday morning, a top official said.”
While “both Hamas and Israel have accused each other of violating various aspects of the cease-fire agreement” during previous weeks, they had still “continued to release Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners each week” until Monday, the Times’ report pointed out.
Furthermore, the BBC noted that while Hamas’ announcement “did not reference Donald Trump or US policy,” it came days after President Donald Trump’s “strong remarks … about the US taking ownership of Gaza and redeveloping it.”
Trump said a week ago that under his administration, the United States “will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too.”
Days later, he clarified that under his plan, the Gaza Strip “would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting.”
“The U.S., working with great development teams from all over the World, would slowly and carefully begin the construction of what would become one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on Earth,” the president elaborated. “No soldiers by the U.S. would be needed! Stability for the region would reign!!!”
As CatholicVote previously reported: “Israel and Hamas have been at war since Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel October 7, 2023.” The January ceasefire between the two sides was negotiated “in part by Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East Steven Witkoff,” and remains in effect.
“The war has claimed the lives of over 70,000 Gazans and wounded more than 100,000,” noted CatholicVote’s previous report.