Hamas said on Monday that it was postponing the release of Israeli hostages planned for this Saturday “until further notice”, accusing Israel of not sticking to a complex ceasefire agreement between the two sides.
The move is the latest — and potentially most serious — in a series of events that have threatened the fragile deal, which took effect three weeks ago, halting the 15-month-old war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Under the terms of the three-phase agreement, Hamas has been gradually freeing some of the Israeli hostages it still holds in Gaza in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
However, while five exchanges so far have taken place, Hamas accused Israel of breaching various other aspects of the deal, which also requires Israel to allow displaced Palestinians to return to their homes, and to facilitate a huge influx of humanitarian aid into the shattered enclave.
Hamas added that the postponement of the next hostage release would remain in place until Israel “complies with the agreement and compensates for the past weeks retroactively”.
Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz branded the announcement a “complete violation of the ceasefire agreement”, and said he had ordered the Israeli military “to prepare at the highest level of alert for any possible scenario in Gaza and to protect the communities” of southern Israel.
In the first part of the agreement thrashed out by US-led mediators, Hamas was meant to release 33 Israeli hostages including all children, women and men over 50. By Saturday, it had released 21 of them in return for the release of more than 700 Palestinian prisoners.
The second stage of the deal, in which Hamas is meant to release all the remaining living hostages — in exchange for hundreds more prisoners, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a permanent end to the fighting — is due to begin in March. But negotiations have yet to begin on the details.
This is a developing story
