Benjamin Netanyahu has issued an ultimatum to Hamas (Image: Getty)
The fragile Gaza ceasefire deal hangs in the balance, with threatening it will end if Hamas fails to return more Israeli hostages.
‘s Prime Minister directed troops to get ready to resume the war on Hamas after the militant group said .
Mr Netanyahu said: “If Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon the ceasefire will be terminated and the IDF will return to intense fighting until Hamas is finally defeated.”
Since the ceasefire began, has released 21 hostages in five exchanges in return for more than 730 Palestinian prisoners.
The emaciated state of has enraged Israelis and terrified families of the remaining hostages, with harrowing details emerging about the conditions of their captivity.
Israeli soldiers rest near an armoured personnel carrier near the border with the Gaza Strip (Image: Getty)
For families of hostages who are not scheduled for release in the first phase of the ceasefire, the uncertainty is increasingly hard to bear.
Tamir Nimrodi, 20, is an Israeli soldier who was kidnapped from his post at a crossing between and Gaza during the October 7 attack. He is not on the list to be freed in the first stage.
His mother, Herut, said Hamas’s plan to delay the next hostage release came as a shock. She said: “We try to analyse it, think, what are the possibilities? Is this psychological terrorism they are pulling on us?”
She added: “I know there is a chance I won’t get to the point where I can hold my son.”
A second phase of the ceasefire deal calls for the return of all remaining hostages and an indefinite extension of the truce.
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Hamas says the language of threats holds no value (Image: Getty)
However, US President ’s comments about the pending releases and plans for post-war Gaza have destabilised the ceasefire arrangements.
On Tuesday, the US leader warned “all hell is going to break out” if the Palestinian terror group does not release “all” the remaining hostages this week. Mr Netanyahu’s office said it welcomed Mr Trump’s demand that should cancel the entire ceasefire deal if all of the roughly 70 hostages are not freed by Saturday.
The Israeli leader’s office also said it ordered the military to mobilise troops on and around the Gaza Strip.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said: “Trump must remember there is an agreement that must be respected by both parties.
“This is the only way to bring back prisoners. The language of threats has no value. It only complicates matters.”
Mr Trump was hosting King Abdullah II in Washington DC when he piled pressure on Jordan to take in refugees from Gaza as part of his plan to remake the Middle East.
King Abdullah was asked by reporters about Mr Trump’s plan to turn Gaza into a Middle East “Riviera”, but didn’t address the idea directly.
The Jordanian monarch also did not comment on the idea that a large number of refugees from Gaza could be welcomed in Jordan, where millions of Palestinian refugees already live.
The king did say that Jordan would be willing “right away” to take as many as 2,000 children in Gaza who have cancer or other illnesses.
In a post on social media, the king reiterated Jordan’s “steadfast position” against displacing Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, adding it was a “unified Arab position”.