Donald Trump is threatening to blow up the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas if the Palestinian group doesn’t release all of its Israeli hostages by midday Saturday.
“If they’re not returned—all of them, not in dribs and drabs, not two and one and three and four and two—by Saturday at 12 o’clock,” Trump said. “And after that, I would say, all hell is going to break out.”
On Monday, Hamas threatened to delay the further release of Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip, accusing Israel of violating the terms of the ceasefire deal, which required Israel to send Gaza hundreds of thousands of tents, as well as other humanitarian supplies. Those supplies and tents have not arrived, Hamas said. Speaking anonymously, three Israeli officials and two mediators told The New York Times that Hamas’s claims are accurate.
Israel has also continued to launch targeted attacks on Gaza, killing more than 110 Palestinians in the three weeks since the ceasefire was supposed to take effect. Hamas said that Israel is playing “dirty games” in its ceasefire violations.
“This could threaten the deal to collapse,” Basem Naim, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, told Drop Site News. “Netanyahu came back from the United States with all intentions to sabotage the deal.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments seem to confirm that. He told reporters on Monday that he made a strategic agreement with Trump and the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, about what positions Israel would take in negotiations. Netanyahu said he has new plans for Gaza and that he and Trump see “eye to eye.”
“You wanted a day after [plan]? You got one…. It just doesn’t match the Oslo narrative…. We won’t repeat that mistake…. I’ve come back with a vision without Hamas and without the Palestinian Authority,” Netanyahu said. In a meeting at the Knesset, Netanyahu shook his fist and said, “We know what complete victory is and we will not give up on it.”
On Sunday, Trump doubled down on his idea of the U.S. taking over the Gaza strip, telling reporters he was “committed to buying and owning Gaza” and that “we’ll make it into a very good site for future development by somebody.”
All of this points to Trump and Netanyahu blowing up the already violated ceasefire deal, with Trump’s half-baked takeover plan becoming the new course of action. Palestinians in Gaza would be ethnically cleansed from the territory, with Trump seeking to force neighboring countries like Egypt and Jordan to take them, or face tariffs. The convicted felon president and the wanted war criminal prime minister are primed to inflict more suffering on the Palestinians.
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