On February 10th, the Palestinian extremist organization Hamas announced that they will halt the release of Israeli hostages until further notice, citing Israel’s alleged violations of the Gaza ceasefire agreement. Israel, on the other hand, has accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire agreement.
Hamas had initially planned to release more Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and other Palestinians held by Israel. This latest move by Hamas has increased the risk of reigniting conflict in the region.
Abu Ubaida, the spokesperson for the Hamas armed forces, stated that Israel’s violations of the agreement include delaying the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza, shelling and shooting at Palestinians, and obstructing humanitarian aid from entering Gaza.
Since the ceasefire agreement came into effect on January 19th, there have been some incidents but the ceasefire has been largely maintained. Aid organizations have reported an increase in the amount of humanitarian aid entering Gaza since the ceasefire.
However, Ubaida mentioned that Hamas will postpone the next planned hostage release operation scheduled for Saturday until Israel complies with the ceasefire agreement and provides “compensation” for their actions over the past few weeks.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz stated that Hamas’ statement violates the ceasefire agreement, and he has ordered the Israeli military to be on high alert both in Gaza and domestically.
An Israeli official revealed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is holding security consultations and the Israeli security cabinet, including the Defense Minister, National Security Advisor, and Foreign Minister, will hold a meeting on Tuesday morning.
So far, as part of the 42-day first-stage ceasefire agreement, Hamas has released 16 out of the planned 33 hostages back home, in addition to releasing 5 Thai hostages outside of the initial plan.
In exchange, Israel has released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
However, Hamas has accused Israel of delaying the process of allowing aid into Gaza, which is one of the conditions of the first-stage ceasefire agreement. Israel has denied these allegations.
Conversely, Israel has also accused Hamas of not adhering to the procedures for releasing hostages and orchestrating a situation where the hostages were publicly subjected to abuse in front of large crowds while being handed over to the Red Cross.