DOHA: Mediators Qatar and Egypt have intensified efforts to save the Gaza peace deal after Israel threatened to resume military operations if Hamas fails to release hostages by Saturday.
U.S. President Donald Trump has warned Palestinians that “hell will break loose” if Hamas does not release Israeli hostages on Saturday.
A Hamas delegation has arrived in Cairo to continue ceasefire talks, the Palestinian group said in a statement.
“If Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon, the ceasefire will end, and the IDF (Israeli military) will resume intense fighting until Hamas is decisively defeated,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement.
Egypt and Qatar alongside the United States brokered the deal that took effect on January 19 after more than a year of extensive diplomatic efforts.
As part of the first stage of the deal, the two sides were supposed to begin indirect negotiations for the second stage 16 days after the ceasefire took effect on January 19. However, these negotiations have yet to commence, although five hostage-prisoner exchanges have been carried out as agreed.
In these swaps, Hamas has released 16 Israeli hostages, while Israel has freed hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
The sixth exchange was planned for Saturday, but earlier this week, Hamas postponed the upcoming release of hostages, citing Israel’s failure to allow the entry of basic humanitarian aid into Gaza. Since then, tensions have intensified further.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to take control of Gaza and displace Palestinians, which has sparked global outrage, could jeopardize the ceasefire in the region and escalate regional instability, senior Arab officials warned on Wednesday.
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Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit cautioned at the World Government Summit in Dubai that if Trump moves forward with the plan, it could plunge the Middle East into a new cycle of crises, with a “damaging effect on peace and stability.”
“If the situation explodes militarily once more, all this (ceasefire) effort will be wasted,” Aboul Gheit said.
Head of Gulf Cooperation Council political (GCC) Jasem al-Budaiwi, called on Trump to remember the strong ties between the region and Washington.
“But there has to be give and take, he says his opinion, and the Arab world should say theirs; what he is saying won’t be accepted by the Arab world.”
China on Wednesday also opposed the forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza.
“Gaza belongs to the Palestinians and is an integral part of the Palestinian territory… We oppose the forced displacement of the people of Gaza,” foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a regular press briefing.
The Israeli war on Gaza has killed more than 48,000 of the nearly 2 million Palestinians who live there, Gaza authorities have said.
