Netanyahu threatens to break ceasefire if Hamas does not release hostages by Saturday
Trump warns Jordan and Egypt that he could cut off aid if they do not cooperate with his plan to expel Palestinians from the Strip
WashingtonUS President Donald Trump has paved the way for Hamas to derail the Gaza ceasefire, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not missed the opportunity. He has said that if Hamas does not release the hostages by Saturday at noon, "the ceasefire will end and the army will fight again until Hamas is finally defeated." The Israeli president made the comments in a video posted on X.
Domestically, the Israeli president may be interested in derailing the agreement to ensure his political survival. The ceasefire has caused him to lose support in the Israeli coalition government, since the extremists who support Netanyahu in power do not agree with the truce.
The Israeli's statements come after Trump threatened to break the ceasefire in response to Hamas' announcement that it would postpone the release of Israeli hostages scheduled for this Saturday. The president said he would end the truce if the Islamist group did not hand over all Israeli prisoners on Saturday. "If they don't, there will be hell," Trump said Monday evening from the White House.
Hamas announced on Monday morning that it was postponing "until further notice" the release of the hostages due to Israel's failure to comply with the conditions agreed upon for the cessation of hostilities. Hamas' armed wing, the Al Qassam Brigades, denounced how Tel Aviv has continued to bomb the Strip during the humanitarian pause and has killed at least thirty people. This past weekend marked the fifth prisoner exchange between Gaza and Tel Aviv under the truce, with Hamas releasing three hostages and Israel returning 183 prisoners and detainees.
"For me, if all the hostages are not released by Saturday at noon, I would say, 'Call it off, everything is off, and the gates of hell open,'" the Republican said as he signed more executive orders from the Oval Office. "If they're not all back by Saturday — the drip is over, two by two or three by three — the gates of hell open," he insisted. "I speak for myself, Israel can correct me, but as far as I'm concerned: Saturday at noon."
When one of the reporters asked Trump to clarify whether "hell" meant retaliation from Israel, the Republican replied: "You'll find out, and they'll find out. Hamas will find out what I mean." Asked whether there could be US involvement if Hamas does not release the hostages, Trump said: "We'll see what happens."
The threat to blow up the Gaza ceasefire is no surprise. Trump has already expressed in recent days that he is not confident that the ceasefire will last much longer, while The announcement to expel Palestinians from Gaza for raising the "Middle Eastern Riviera" Trump was once again making explicit his support for the ethnic cleansing plan that Israel wants to perpetrate against the Palestinian people and fueling the unrest amid the talks that have already begun in Qatar to address the second phase of the cessation of hostilities. In fact, Hamas also made it clear to the ceasefire mediators on Monday that it no longer trusted the guarantees of the United States to maintain the truce, given Trump's plans to expel the Palestinians from Gaza.
Pressures on Jordan and Israel
In his plan to expel the Palestinian people from their land and turn Gaza into a big real estate business, Trump has insisted again on Monday that Jordan and Egypt must accept the forced exodus of the Palestinians. Both Arab countries border Palestine and had already rejected the idea before. Since the Republican cannot get what he wants by good means, he has now tried it by bad means: he has threatened Amman and Cairo with cutting off US aid if they do not collaborate in his plan to force the Palestinian exodus.
"If they do not agree, I would possibly withhold aid," Trump said on Monday, just before meeting with the King of Jordan, Abdullah II bin al Hussein. The monarch will meet his American counterpart on Tuesday at the White House. Amman received almost 1.7 billion dollars in US aid in 2023, according to official data from the US administration. Cairo received $1.5 billion, of which more than $1.2 billion was in military aid.
On Monday morning, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss Trump's plans to displace Gazans. Shortly after the conversation, Egypt issued a statement saying that the only way to address threats to regional stability is with an indiscriminate vision towards the Middle East, in which the international community also takes into account the Palestinians who suffer "unprecedented injustice" regarding their basic rights. The Arab country urges the international community to adopt a united political vision to resolve the Palestinian crisis.
Trump's plan to permanently expel Palestinians from Gaza would violate a large number of international laws, in addition to being roundly rejected by Arab countries. They believe that the president wants to repeat the Nakba with the 2.3 million Palestinian residents of Gaza.
