On Wednesday, Hamas announced that it would not release all of the Israeli hostages on Shabbos and instead called for three days of global solidarity marches in protest of U.S. President Donald Trump’s plans to remove Palestinians from Gaza as part of its reconstruction efforts.
“We call our masses, our nation, and free people around the world in a global movement against the plans to uproot our Palestinian people, in the coming Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to march against the plan of the occupation and its supporters,” Hamas stated in an official announcement.
Senior Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri spoke with Al Jazeera and confirmed that the group had no plans to release all the hostages on Saturday. “Trump’s announcement created tension and led to Israel avoiding its commitments to the deal,” he said, dismissing Defense Minister Israel Katz’s threats of renewed war in Gaza if the hostages were not freed as “silly and banal.”
“Trump’s threats mean nothing and do not scare us,” he continued. “Egypt and Qatar are making great efforts to push Israel to meet its obligations and we are pleased with the official position of Arab states who reject the plan to uproot Palestinians. The administration of Gaza is a Palestinian affair and we will not be dictated to. We are committed to the deal as it was agreed and will not be releasing all of the prisoners next Saturday.”
Despite this, the senior Hamas official did not completely rule out releasing three hostages as initially planned for the sixth phase of the deal on Shabbos. Hamas sparked a major setback in the agreement two days ago, when it announced a delay, citing alleged Israeli violations such as delays in the delivery of caravans and tents to Palestinian refugees.
Abu Zuhri’s comments come amidst growing optimism from both Hamas and the mediating countries, Qatar and Egypt, which are working to broker a compromise to get the deal back on track. Another senior Hamas official stated that “positive signals” had been received, while an Egyptian source mentioned that the parties were “close to an agreement.” The source also revealed that Israel had agreed to deliver additional tents, shelters, and heavy equipment to Gaza. Shortly after, reports from Gaza confirmed that dozens of trucks “loaded with tents” had entered northern Gaza through the Zikim crossing.
{Matzav.com Israel}