Palestinian armed group Hamas said on Thursday that despite uncertainty over the number of hostages released on Saturday, a crisis threatening to lift the Gaza ceasefire agreement and divisions over aid supplies could be avoided.
The 42-day ceasefire was almost near failure this week, due to allegations of violations against the agreement last month with the help of Egypt and Kathari mediators and the U.S. support.
Hamas said that while the deal rejected what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump called “language of threats and intimidation”, he did not want the deal to collapse. The leaders said that if the hostages are not released, the ceasefire should be lifted.
“Hamas therefore reiterated its commitment to signing the agreement, including exchanging prisoners on a designated timetable,” Hamas said in a statement.
Hamas's Gaza chief leader Khalil al-Hayya is in talks with Egyptian security officials, and he also said that both Egyptian and Qatari mediators will continue to work to “remove obstacles and closeness” gap”.
Logistics issues with moving houses with tents
Hamas accused Israel of failing to respect the rules, demanding a substantial increase in aid and said it would not release three hostages before Saturday's release until the issue was resolved.
In response, Netanyahu ordered the call of reserves and threatened to resume combat operations, which were suspended for nearly a month unless the hostages were returned.
Israeli Minister Avi Dichter, a member of Netanyahu Security Cabinet, told Israel Public Radio on Thursday that he did not believe Hamas would be able to get out of the deal.
“There is a deal. They won't be able to pay less than that deal,” he said. “I don't think Hamas can do it.”
Egyptian security sources told Reuters they expect heavy construction equipment to enter on Thursday and Hamas will release the hostages on Saturday if that happens.
The standoff between Israel and Hamas threatened to rekindle their conflict, which led Gaza to destroy Gaza and brought the Middle East to the brink of wider regional wars.
Egyptian and Kathari officials have been working to avoid a collapse, while Palestinian officials approached the mediation work and said both sides agreed to continue the ceasefire and exchange hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas said negotiations in Cairo focused on Israel's access to mobile homes, tents, medical and fuel supplies and heavy machinery needed to remove rubble.
Salama Marouf, head of the government media office run by Hamas, Gaza, told Reuters that only 73,000 required 200,000 tents arrived at the enclave, and so far no mobile homes were allowed.
Israeli military agency responsible for the delivery of aid to Gaza said that so far 400,000 tents have been allowed to enter, and countries aiming to provide mobile homes have not been sent to them.
International aid officials confirmed that despite many logistical issues, aid is still coming in, despite warning that more is needed.
“We have seen progress in some ways, but it's certain that the response is far from enough to meet the needs of so many people,” said Shaina Low, an official at the Norwegian Refugee Council, the capital, Amman.
She said that despite Israel’s restrictions on so-called “dual-purpose” materials, the shelter materials are still coming in, which can also be used for military purposes.
U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his vision on Tuesday when he appeared with Jordanian King Abdullah II in Washington, DC , he believes he thinks that Palestinians (Palestinians who condemn the proposal) will welcome his vision.
16 hostages released in the latest suspension
Amid suspicion of the ceasefire deal this week, the Arab world’s hostile response to Trump’s comments is that Palestinians should transfer Palestinians from Gaza to seashore property under U.S. control.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi will not travel to Washington to hold talks at the White House as long as the agenda includes Trump in the week, two Egyptian security sources told Reuters on Thursday Two Egyptian security sources told Reuters on Thursday.
Under the ceasefire, Hamas has so far released 16 Israeli hostages from the initial 33 children, women and older men, agreeing to exchange hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in the first phase of the multi-stage deal.
Hamas also released five Thai hostages in a planned release.
Mediators hope that the second phase of the agreement would agree to the release of the remaining hostages and the entire evacuation of Israeli forces from Gaza, which should have started in Doha, but the Israeli team returned home on Monday, two days after arriving.
The threat of a 42-day ceasefire that formed the basis of the agreement will attract thousands of Israeli protesters to the streets this week, calling on the government to stick to the deal in order to bring the rest of the hostages home.
Hamas said on Sunday that the Israeli military withdraws a Gaza region known as the Netzarim Corridor from the Gaza region, which is part of the enclave. Thousands of Palestinians have been broadcast from the corridor in recent weeks, returning from northern Gaza to the north where they sought asylum in the war.
According to the Israeli government's Statistics Bureau, the Israeli attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, led by Hamas, broke out, killing at least 1,200 people and being regarded as hostages. . On October 7, several Canadian citizens were killed.
According to Gaza health officials, this triggered a relentless Israeli response, which has resulted in wasting the coastal areas and killing more than 48,000 Palestinians.
