Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the press. AFP
Hamas said Monday — and reiterated Tuesday — that it planned to delay the release of three more captives after accusing Israel of failing to meet the terms of the ceasefire, including by not allowing an agreed-upon number of tents and other aid into Gaza, as AP.
US and Israeli sources confirmed to the New York Times that Israel is blocking the entry of tents to the strip, leaving tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians without any protection against rain and freezing weather conditions.
Amid the mounting tensions, U.S. President Donald Trump emboldened Israel to call for the release of even more remaining captives on Saturday.
After meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House on Tuesday, Trump predicted Hamas would not release all the remaining captives as he had demanded.
“I don’t think they’re going to make the deadline, personally,” the president said of Hamas. “They want to play tough guy. We’ll see how tough they are.”
Since the ceasefire took effect, Hamas has released 21 captives in a series of five exchanges for more than 730 Palestinian prisoners.
A second phase calls for the return of all remaining captives and an indefinite extension of the truce.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Netanyahu’s threat referred to the three captives scheduled for release on Saturday or all the remaining captives, which would be a departure from the terms of the ceasefire. Netanyahu’s office said it “welcomed President Trump’s demand.”
Netanyahu’s office also said it ordered the military to mobilize troops on and around the Gaza Strip in preparation for scenarios that could arise.
Hamas brushed off his threat Tuesday, doubling down on its claim that Israel has violated the ceasefire and warned that it would only continue releasing captives if all parties adhered to the ceasefire.
“Trump must remember there is an agreement that must be respected by both parties. This is the only way to bring back prisoners,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Tuesday. “The language of threats has no value; it only complicates matters.”
The group later condemned Trump's White House remarks, saying they amounted to a “call for ethnic cleansing” and accusing Trump of seeking to “liquidate the Palestinian cause and deny the national rights of the Palestinian people.”
It said in a statement that it remained committed to the ceasefire but did not address its plans to suspend the captive's releases outlined in the first phase of the agreement.
Displacement Scheme
In his Fox News interview on Saturday, PM Netanyahu, who the International Criminal Court wants on war crimes for overseeing the 15-month Israeli genocidal war on Palestinians in Gaza, put on sheep's clothing, pretending he cared for the Palestinians' pain to advance his stated wishes to displace the native population forcibly.
Denying that Israel wants to cleanse the Palestinians from Gaza ethnically, he claimed that he wants people in Gaza to have the opportunity to "voluntarily exit" the strip, accusing Egypt of standing in the way of their departure.
"Get the population out, allow them to leave. Not forcible eviction, not ethnic cleansing -- getting people out of what all these countries and all these do-gooders say is an open-air prison. Why are you keeping them in prison?" said Netanyahu, who orchestrated an iron-clad embargo on food, water, and medicine to the strip during the war, leaving most of the 2.4 million population on the verge of starvation.
In its response, Egypt firmly rejected the "false allegations, and deliberate distortions" advanced by Netanyahu during statements to Fox News on the Egyptian role in the Gaza Strip.
In a statement on Sunday evening, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said: “These statements contravene with the crucial role Egypt has played in facilitating the entry of urgent humanitarian aid for the Palestinian people, including 5,000 humanitarian aid trucks since the ceasefire went into effect in addition to facilitating the evacuation of those wounded and dual nationalities into the country."
“Egypt views these statements as an attempt to distract from Israel's crimes against civilians in Gaza; its destruction of vital infrastructure, such as hospitals, schools, power stations, and water facilities in the strip; in addition to using siege and starvation as weapons against civilians," stressed the Egyptian foreign ministry.
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