If the ceasefire breaks down, it will mean that Israeli prisoners still held in Gaza will remain in the enclave, sparking anger in Israeli society. The question now is where Israelis will direct this anger. According to observers, violating the ceasefire and resuming Israel’s war in Gaza could serve Prime Minister Netanyahu
The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas may be running out of time and peace may be becoming increasingly distant. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that the government’s unanimous decision was that “if Hamas does not return the hostages by noon on Saturday,” without specifying the number, “the ceasefire will be broken and the IDF will return to intense fighting until Hamas is finally defeated.” Netanyahu also said that “in light of Hamas’ announcement of its decision to violate the agreement and not release our hostages, last night I ordered the IDF to mass its forces in and around the Gaza Strip.”
According to the army, the Southern Command of the IDF is approving battle plans for the Gaza Strip in the event that the ceasefire and hostage agreement with Hamas fail. Currently, two divisions of the Israeli army are responsible for defense along the Gaza border and the Philadelphia Corridor: the 162nd Division and the Gaza Division. Since yesterday evening, several brigades and special forces units have been deployed to the Southern Command to reinforce existing forces.
CRUISE VIOLATION
Meanwhile, the Hamas leadership said it would not release the hostages unless Israel respected the terms of the Gaza deal, Al Arabiya reported. However, the Israeli prime minister’s words remained unclear: it was not immediately clear whether he meant the return of the hostages to be released on Saturday or all those still held in the Palestinian enclave. Thus, the security cabinet “partially approved” US President Donald Trump’s request that Hamas release all hostages in Gaza by Saturday, an Israeli official told Ynet.
“We are relying on the ultimatum of the American president and we want to see how Hamas reacts,” the official says. “Since it was not us who broke the agreement, but rather Hamas, there is an excuse for our side to break the agreement. There is a reason why Netanyahu did not give a number of hostages to be released until Saturday in his last statement,” the official says.
RESUME OF ATTACKS
Yemen’s Houthis are also ready to continue their attacks on Israel if it resumes its attacks on the Gaza Strip and does not respect the ceasefire agreement, the leader of the pro-Iranian group, Abdulmalik al-Houthi, announced on Tuesday. The Houthis have attacked Israel and ships in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade. They claimed they were doing so out of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza during the Israeli offensive on the enclave. “Our fingers are on the trigger and we are ready to escalate immediately against the Israeli enemy if it resumes the escalation in the Gaza Strip,” al-Houthi said in a television broadcast. The Houthis, part of the anti-Israel and anti-Western Regional alliance known as the ‘Axis of Resistance’, have previously attacked Israeli territory with rockets.
TRUMP’S THREATS
Meanwhile, Trump said he did not believe Hamas would meet a Saturday deadline to release Israeli hostages from the Gaza Strip, after promising “hell” if they did not. “I have a deadline of Saturday, but I don’t think they will act before the deadline,” he told reporters at the White House after hosting Jordan’s King Abdullah II. The latter announced that the US plan for Gaza would be united with Arab countries.
Speaking from the Oval Office of the White House, the king said Jordan would seek to protect its interests and work with the United States to bring peace to the Region. If the ceasefire breaks down, it would mean that Israeli prisoners still held in Gaza would remain in the enclave, sparking anger in Israeli society. The question now is where the Israelis will direct this anger. According to observers, violating the ceasefire and resuming Israel’s war in Gaza could serve the prime minister.
