Trump must have put the thumb screws on the Qatari masters of Hamas.
Israel-Hamas deal back on track, Gaza captives to be freed as planned
There are conflicting reports. The above headline is from Al Jazeera. Here’s another report from Israel:
Hamas will not release all Gaza hostages on Saturday, spokesman says
Senior Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri spoke to Al Jazeera on Wednesday evening and stated that Hamas is “committed” to implementing the previously agreed schedule of the hostage deal and that they will not release “all” Israeli hostages on Saturday. (More below the fold)
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Israel unlikely to derail captives release on Saturday
Yossi Mekelberg, an analyst at the think tank Chatham House, says that after Hamas has confirmed that the captives will be released on Saturday, he cannot see any chance that Israel will not go ahead with the exchange.
“As far as most Israelis are concerned, we know for many … months that 60-70 percent … say they wanted a ceasefire deal, the return of hostages … even [an] end [to the] war.”
He said that despite the majority of the Israeli public calling for a deal, for many months, the government had placed “obstacles” to reaching an agreement, which raises questions over negotiations for a second phase of the ceasefire deal.
“We saw when the deal was signed part of the far right led by [then-National Security Minister Itamar] Ben-Gvir left the coalition and … [Finance Minister Bezalal] Smotrich and his party stayed there, but they stayed … to derail the second phase, and Netanyahu is desperate to keep the … coalition together,” Mekelberg said.
He said the latest comments by US President Donald Trump in which he suggested the US should take over Gaza and displace the Palestinians there – an act that would, in effect, be ethnic cleansing – has created “further complications” to the negotiations of the second phase.
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Continued:
Abu Zuhri’s comments likely came as part of a larger statement to Al Jazeera regarding Hamas’s views towards the potential breakdown of the ceasefire agreement.
Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that if Hamas does not release the Israeli hostages by Saturday, all hell will break loose.
This referenced US President Donald Trump when he said, “If all the Gaza hostages aren’t returned by Saturday at 12 p.m., I would say cancel the ceasefire. Let all hell break loose; Israel can override it,” on Tuesday.
“But as far as I’m concerned… I would say cancel it, and all bets are off,” he added. “All of them, not in drips and drabs, not two and one and three and four and two,” Trump added.
Hamas has violated the hostage deal/ceasefire agreement several times — just like it violated the last hostage deal agreement in November 2023. And don’t forget — Hamas is the group still holding 76 hostages, in blatant violation of international law.