The Palestinian resistance group Hamas is weighing a suspension in indirect negotiations with Israel after the latter delayed the release of nearly 600 prisoners, the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported Monday.
The Berlin-based news agency cited senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Mardawi’s statements on Telegram saying that the group would not engage in cease-fire discussions until Israel released prisoners due to be freed on Saturday.
However, a final decision has yet to be made and the group is coordinating with the mediators, the dpa said citing Hamas sources.
Hamas on Saturday handed over six hostages to Red Cross representatives in the Gaza Strip.
In return for the men’s release, Israel was set to free more than 600 Palestinian prisoners, including 50 serving life sentences, according to Palestinian sources.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office then announced it was delaying the release.
Their release was on hold “until the release of the next hostages has been assured, and without the humiliating ceremonies,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
Resume fighting
Later Sunday, Netanyahu said that Israel was prepared to resume fighting in Gaza and accused Hamas of endangering a five-week-old Gaza truce by suspending prisoner releases.
The first phase of the truce, which has largely halted more than 15 months of devastating war in the Gaza Strip, is due to expire in early March and details of a planned subsequent phase have not been agreed.
With tensions again surging over the deal, Israel announced Sunday an expansion of military operations in the occupied West Bank, a separate Palestinian territory where violence has soared throughout Israel’s genocidal Gaza war.
Netanyahu, speaking at a military ceremony a day after Israel halted the release of Palestinian prisoners, vowed to achieve the war’s objectives in negotiations “or by other means.”
“We are prepared to resume intense fighting at any moment,” he said.
Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim said postponing the release exposes “the entire agreement to grave danger.”
Naim called on the truce mediators, “especially the Americans,” to pressure Israel “to implement the agreement as it is and immediately release our prisoners.”
Both sides have accused each other of violations during the cease-fire but it has so far held.
‘Prevent return’
Israel vowed to destroy Hamas after its Oct. 7, 2023 incursion and has made bringing back all hostages seized that day part of its war objectives.
The attack that triggered Israel’s genocidal war killed 48,500 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Gazan Health Ministry.
Netanyahu on Sunday said that “we have eliminated most of Hamas’s organized forces, but let there be no doubt – we will complete the war’s objectives entirely – whether through negotiation or by other means.”
A military statement later Sunday said “it was decided to increase the operational readiness in the area surrounding the Gaza Strip.”
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said he was headed to the Middle East this week to “get an extension of phase one” of the truce.
“We’re hopeful that we have the proper time … to begin phase two, and finish it off and get more hostages released,” Witkoff told CNN.
Trump has floated the idea of a U.S. takeover of war-ravaged Gaza under which its Palestinian inhabitants would move elsewhere, triggering widespread criticism.
Alongside the Gaza war – which displaced almost the entire population of 2.4 million – Israel has intensified its military operations in the West Bank.
According to U.N. and Israeli figures, 40,000 Palestinians have been displaced from refugee camps in the northern West Bank since the start of a major Israeli offensive last month.
The military said a tank division was sent into Jenin, the first such deployment to the West Bank in 20 years.
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