IDF troops in hunt for a Hamas commander storm a home in central Gaza (Image: IDF)
Israel will resume full-scale war against Hamas on Sunday if the terror group doesn’t release more hostages, sources close to the Government in Tel Aviv have warned.
“Our troops are on standby – we’re ready” said one last night.
The brittle Gaza ceasefire deal was left on a knife-edge after Hamas announced it is to delay the release of three hostages on Saturday.
Tel Aviv’s fury was echoed by , who proposed should cancel the ceasefire and let “all hell break loose”
Reasons given by Hamas include delays in allowing some Palestinians to return home, failing to deliver heavy equipment and not allowing humanitarian aid “in all its agreed-upon forms”.
But some experts fear the reaction to the emaciated conditions in which hostages are being returned and accounts of torture have led Hamas to conclude that a full end to the war is no longer possible, and it is seeking reasons to blame for the ceasefire collapse.
The move is also seen as one of the only options the terror group has left to oppose remarks made by US President about taking ownership of Gaza and redeveloping it.
In Tel Aviv, one furious government source said: “We’ve had enough of this nonsense, our patience is wearing thin. Hamas has five days. If they don’t return hostages by Sunday, we’re back in Gaza in full force.
“Our troops are on standby. They’re ready to finish the job we started against Hamas.”
The deeply gaunt condition of hostages Or Levy, Eli Sharabi, and Ohad Ben Ami when they were handed over after 491 days in captivity at the weekend has caused outrage among Israelis, as has emerging accounts of torture at the hands of their captors
“He looks like he’s just come out of a concentration camp,” said Peter Brisley of his son-in-law Eli Sharabi, who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’er by drug-fuelled jihadists when thousands of militants launched a surprise attack on on October 7, 2023.
”I wasn’t expecting to see him looking like that, so very very thin and emaciated.”
Others criticised the way hostages have been “paraded like trophies” by Hamas’ decimated al-Qassam brigade, as it tries to persuade both and Palestinians that it remains in charge of Gaza.
Defence Minister Katz said he had ordered the Defense Forces (IDF) “to prepare at the highest level of alert for any possible scenario in Gaza and to protect the communities.”
Sharren Haskel, ’s deputy foreign minister, posted on X: “I can’t put into words the trauma the hostages are suffering and their families are too.
“I call on the international community to use all available measures to force Hamas to release all the hostages right now. Otherwise, must resume in full force our war against Hamas to bring them home now.”
Hamas fighters parade emaciated Israeli hostage Eli Sharabi on a stage (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Rafah in ruins – it will 15 years to rebuild Gaza, US envoy Steve Witkoff (Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)
During an Oval Office briefing to the press, President Trump said: “As far as I’m concerned, if all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday 12 o’clock – I think it’s an appropriate time -I would say cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out.”
He criticised the terms of the agreement, which will see hand over thousands of Palestinian convicts and detainees for the return of 73 remaining Israeli hostages kidnapped during Hamas’ surprise attack on October 7 , 2023, as well as three others who have been held for a decade.
Since the ceasefire began on 19 January, 16 Israeli and five Thai hostages have been released in exchange for 566 prisoners.
By the end of the first stage of the ceasefire in three weeks’ time, 33 hostages and 1,900 Palestinian prisoners are expected to have been freed.
That means there are 17 Israelis yet to be handed over in the first stage , though Israeli authorities believe eight are already dead.
Trump said the hostages should be released “not in dribs and drabs, not two and one and three and four and two”.
Hamas’ announcement is the latest in a series of recriminatory steps by both sides;
delayed by two days the allowing of Palestinians to return to north Gaza after Hamas reneged on its commitment to free a female Israeli civilian hostage.
“The hope is that this is simply a way by Hamas to pressure to carry out of the the terms of the ceasefire,” said regional expert Megan Sutcliffe of Sibylline
“But my real concern is that Hamas has seen the response to the condition of released hostages, who are revealing acts of torture they endured.
“They know the remaining hostages are in a similar or worse state – more may now be dead than at the time of the agreement – and they fear releasing them would spell the end of the ceasefire anyway, so are trying to pre-empt this by shifting the blame on to .”
Hamas abducted 251 Israelis and killed 1,200 others when it launched its October 7 attacks, considered by to be its 9/11 moment
Tel Aviv retaliated with a full-scale military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, intended to flush out the terror group from its labyrinthian tunnel network and destroy it.
At least 48,000 Palestinians were also killed in the ensuing conflict, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.