Netanyahu ends hours-long meeting.. War linked to Saturday's batch of prisoners

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu concluded his meeting with the Political and Security Council on Tuesday evening, which lasted for 4 hours, stressing that the issue of returning to war in the Gaza Strip is linked to the prisoner exchange deal next Saturday.

"I have just finished a four-hour in-depth discussion in the political-security cabinet," Netanyahu said in press statements following the lengthy meeting, adding that "we expressed our outrage over the appalling situation of our three hostages, who were released last Saturday."

"We all welcomed US President Donald Trump's demand to release our hostages by Saturday afternoon, and we also welcomed the president's revolutionary vision for the future of Gaza," he said.

Netanyahu indicated that in response to Hamas' announcement to postpone the release of Israeli prisoners scheduled for next Saturday, he issued instructions last night to the Israeli army forces to mobilize inside and around the Gaza Strip.

He stressed that the mobilization of Israeli forces is taking place during these hours and will be completed in the near future, adding that "the decision that was taken unanimously in the cabinet is that if Hamas does not return the prisoners by Saturday afternoon, the ceasefire will end, and the army will return to violent fighting until Hamas is finally defeated."

In a related context, Israeli officials have made the continuation of the first phase of the prisoner exchange agreement with Hamas conditional on the latter releasing 3 detainees it is holding next Saturday, despite Tel Aviv's continued violations of the agreement.

Israeli Army Radio quoted unnamed officials as saying: "If Hamas releases 3 prisoners on Saturday, the first stage of the agreement will continue."

This comes shortly after a meeting of the Israeli Security Cabinet to discuss developments in the deal with Hamas, after the movement suspended the release of the sixth batch of the first phase scheduled for Saturday, in response to Tel Aviv's violation of the agreement.

In turn, Hebrew media outlets, including the private Channel 14 and the newspaper Maariv, quoted an unnamed political source in Israel as saying that “all members of the cabinet expressed their support for US President Donald Trump’s demand to release our kidnapped people until Saturday afternoon, and for his revolutionary vision for the future of Gaza,” in reference to the plan to displace Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

On Monday, when asked about reports that Hamas had suspended the release of prisoners in Gaza until Israel complies with all terms of the agreement, Trump said it was "unacceptable."

He added: "The ceasefire must be cancelled if all prisoners in Gaza are not released by 12:00 noon on Saturday, and if this is not done, let the gates of hell open."

Trump continued: "We want everybody back. I speak for myself. Israel can do it differently, but I speak for myself and I say: If they're not back by Saturday at 12:00, if they're not here, hell will break loose."

On Monday, Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, announced the postponement of the handover of the Israeli prisoners scheduled to be released next Saturday until further notice, due to Tel Aviv’s violations of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip.

Accordingly, Abu Obeida stated that they decided to postpone the handover of prisoners “until Israel commits to implementing the agreement and compensating the entitlements of the past weeks retroactively,” stressing “commitment to the terms of the agreement as long as the occupation commits to them.”

Earlier, the Director General of the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, Munir al-Barsh, announced in a statement that the occupation had killed 92 Palestinians and injured 822 others in direct targeting since the ceasefire agreement in the Strip went into effect on January 19, which includes 3 stages, each lasting 42 days, during the first of which negotiations are underway to start the second and third, with the mediation of Egypt and Qatar and the support of the United States.

With American support, the occupation committed genocide in Gaza between October 7, 2023 and January 19, 2025, leaving about 160,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 14,000 missing.

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