Hamas announced on Monday, February 10, that it will delay the next release of Israeli captives until further notice because of Israel’s violations of the ceasefire agreement.
The spokesperson of Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, Abu Obaida said in a statement on Monday that “the handover of the captives, who were scheduled to be released next Saturday, will be postponed until further notice, and until the occupation commits to and compensates for the entitlements of the past weeks retroactively.”
Abu Obaida clarified that the violations included “delaying the return of the displaced to the northern Gaza Strip, targeting them with shelling and gunfire, and blocking humanitarian aid.”
Al-Qassam’s spokesperson added that Hamas has fulfilled all its obligations stipulated in the agreement, but Israel has not. He further warned that Israeli captives will not be released “until Israel complies and makes up for its past violations.”
“We affirm our commitment to the terms of the agreement as long as the occupation commits to them,” Abu Obaida added.
The Netanyahu-Trump plans to ethnically cleanse Palestinians
Hamas’ announcement came a few days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explicitly vowed to resume the aggression on the Gaza Strip at a White House press conference on Tuesday, February 4.
“We can’t leave Hamas there [in Gaza], because Hamas will continue the battle to destroy Israel,” Netanyahu said as he headed to the United States last week, before he sent a delegation to the Qatari capital Doha, on Saturday, February 8.
The delegation reportedly traveled to Doha to address technical details of the ongoing ceasefire and captives-for-prisoners swap deal with Hamas, but it was not authorized to discuss the second phase of the agreement.
Many allege that Netanyahu traveled to the US ahead of negotiations about the second phase of the agreement in order to discuss it first with US President Donald Trump.
The outcomes of the Netanyahu-Trump discussions were revealed with Trump’s blatant calls for mass displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and revoking their right of return in addition to his push to “own” the war-torn enclave.
The statements of Netanyahu and Trump prove once again that Israel and the United States are partners in the systematic ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, and that the Trump’s administration is only completing the mission that the Biden’s administration had started by providing full support to Israel’s genocidal aggression on Gaza.
Reactions to Hamas’s captives’ handover postponement
In response to Hamas’s announcement, Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on Monday to be on the “highest alert” for any possible development in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Trump said on Monday that Israel should cancel its ceasefire with Hamas if all Israeli captives in Gaza are not released by noon Saturday, threatening that “all hell is going to break out” in case they are not released.
