Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given Hamas an ultimatum: Release all hostages still in Gaza by noon Saturday, or the Jewish state will unleash a ferocious new phase of the war.
The new demand Tuesday to return all 31 hostages being held in the Palestinian territory, along with the bodies of 36 others, matches President Trump’s call a day earlier for Hamas to free every hostage or he would “let hell break loose” on the terror group.
Netanyahu warned that “intense fighting” would begin immediately in Gaza if Hamas does not comply, and that Israel was already amassing forces on the border of the Palestinian territory.
“If Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon, the ceasefire will end, and the IDF will return to intense fighting until Hamas is finally defeated,” the premier said in a statement.
It all comes after Hamas ordered a halt on the hostage exchanges Monday after it claimed that Israel has violated the cease-fire agreement — which experts say is a naked attempt to get more concessions out of the Jewish state.
Netanyahu’s statement came after a cabinet meeting in which Israeli officials discussed Hamas’ allegations and the terror group’s refusal to release the nine remaining hostages who are part of the first phase of the cease-fire deal.
While Netanyahu had originally called on Hamas to just release the next three batches of hostages by Saturday, as per the original cease-fire deal, the premier then asked for all nine living hostages of the first phase to be freed.
Hours later, Israeli officials said Netanyahu upped his demands to match with Trump’s ultimatum, the Times of Israel reports.
An Israeli official told TOI that Netanyahu was purposefully avoiding the phrase “all the hostages” in public statements so as to allow Israel to have some leverage in the negotiations.
The Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday that they are currently bolstering its forces in the Southern Command, which oversees the Gaza border.
“The reinforcements of troops and mobilization of reservists are being carried out in preparation for various scenarios,” an IDF statement said.
The Israeli deadline matched the one given by Trump, who warned that he would “let hell break out” if Hamas did not release the hostages.
“I’d say they ought to be returned by 12 o’clock on Saturday,” Trump said. “And if they’re not returned — all of them, not in dribs and drabs, not two and one and three and four and two – by Saturday at 12 o’clock. And after that, I would say, all hell is going to break out.”
Trump reaffirmed the deadline during a meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Crown Prince Al Hussein on Tuesday.
The president has said that he would leave the final decision to Israel, giving the Jewish state the ability to overrule his demands.
Hamas scoffed at Trump’s ultimatum as the terror group claimed the cease-fire is the only way for the remaining hostages to be freed.
“Trump must remember that there is an agreement that must be respected by both parties, and this is the only way to bring back the (Israeli) prisoners. The language of threats has no value and only complicates matters,” senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters.
Joe Truzman, a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defending Democracy, said Hamas’ threats were a ploy to get the US and Israel “to make additional concessions to expedite the release of the hostages.”
“Hamas is capitalizing on the public outrage generated by the distressing images of emaciated hostages to amplify pressure on the Israeli government for further concessions,” Truzman said in a statement.
“Hamas is executing a strategy to assert dominance over the hostage negotiations and the situation in the Gaza Strip,” he added.
Richard Goldberg, a senior advisor at the FDD and former White House National Security Council staffer, warned that the goal of the cease-fire disruption would be to see the fighting restart, which he said would benefit both Hamas and their backers in Tehran.
Goldberg told The Post that Trump doesn’t have to send troops to Gaza to threaten Hamas, as the president has plenty of alternative methods to punish the terror group should they fail to meet the deadline.
“Just on Hamas, [Trump could] go after their assets that we have not gone after in the region that might be held in Qatar or Turkey or other places in the Middle East; give authorization to go hunt down Hamas leaders wherever they live, whether it’s in Gaza or not in Gaza and support Israel in doing that,” he said.
“Just because Hamas leaders today enjoy safe harbor in Qatar doesn’t mean they would enjoy safe harbor and Qatar tomorrow,” Goldberg added.
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