Released hostage Ohad Ben Ami draped in an Israeli flag arrives at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center – Ichilov Hospital by helicopter, on Feb. 8, in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images
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Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images
TEL AVIV, Israel — A spokesperson for the militant group Hamas said Monday that it would delay the release of the next group of Israeli hostages scheduled for this Saturday, imperiling a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The hostage-for-prisoner exchanges are part of a six-week ceasefire between Israel and Hamas now in its fourth week.
Abu Obeida, the military spokesman for Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades, accused Israel of violating the terms of the deal. He said Israel is “delaying the return of the displaced to the northern Gaza Strip, targeting them with shelling and gunfire in various areas of the Strip, and not allowing relief supplies of all kinds to enter as agreed upon.”
In a statement, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the Hamas announcement “is a complete violation of the ceasefire agreement and the hostage release deal.”
He added that he had asked the country’s military “to prepare at the highest level of readiness for any possible scenario in Gaza and to ensure the protection of Israeli communities.”
At the end of the first phase of the deal, 33 Israeli hostages would’ve been freed in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
The next stage of the deal is expected to see additional hostages released for prisoners and a further withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
The U.S. has been helping mediate those talks and Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to visit Israel and key Arab states — Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — this week, the State Department said.
The news comes as President Trump floated a plan to have the U.S. take over Gaza and relocate the nearly two million Palestinians elsewhere. The proposal invited the ire of Hamas’ leadership in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, as well as rejection from regional leaders and many U.S allies.
Egypt announced Sunday it would host a summit of Arab leaders later in the month, amid alarm in the region over President Trump’s proposals.
Israeli forces withdrew from the Netzarim Corridor in Gaza on Sunday, upholding part of the ceasefire deal. The corridor is a four mile strip of land bisecting northern and southern Gaza that Israel fortified during the war, using it as a military zone.
