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The ceasefire between Hamas and Israel appears to be at risk of collapse, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday threatened to resume fighting unless Hamas releases the hostages being held in the Gaza Strip within days.
“In light of Hamas's announcement of its decision to violate the agreement and not release our hostages, last night I ordered the [Israeli military] to amass forces inside and around the Gaza Strip,” Mr Netanyahu said. "If Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon, the ceasefire will be terminated and the [Israeli military] will return to intense fighting until Hamas is finally defeated."
Mr Netanyahu did not clarify whether he was demanding the release of the three hostages originally scheduled for release on Saturday, the nine remaining in the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, or all those held captive. A senior Israeli official told The National that Mr Netanyahu and his cabinet were demanding that Hamas release all remaining hostages by the deadline.
Hamas on Monday said it would delay the exchange of hostages planned for Saturday until further notice but the militant group left the door open to release hostages if mediators put pressure on Israel to fully respect the ceasefire agreement.
The militant group claims Israel has breached key conditions of the agreement, prompting it to call off the release of three hostages on Saturday. On Tuesday, it released a list of the breaches it claims Israel has made.
The Israeli Prime Minister's comments came as US President Donald Trump said he did not think Hamas would honour a deadline he set on Monday, in which he warned “all hell would break out” if the remaining captives were not freed by “Saturday at 12 o'clock”.
“I have a Saturday deadline, and I don't think they're going to make [the] deadline. Personally, I think they want to play tough guy. But we'll see how tough they are,” Mr Trump said as he welcomed Jordan's King Abdullah II to the White House on Tuesday.
Yemen's Houthis are ready to launch attacks on Israel if it resumes attacks on Gaza and does not commit to the ceasefire deal, the group's leader Abdul-Malik Al Houthi said.
"Our hands are on the trigger and we are ready to immediately escalate against the Israeli enemy if it returns to escalation in the Gaza Strip," Mr Al Houthi said in a televised speech.
The Houthis had attacked Israeli and other vessels in the Red Sea, disturbing global shipping lanes, in what they said were acts of solidarity with Gaza's Palestinians during Israel's war with Hamas.
