Donald Trump's ultimatum ends: Will war break out again on Saturday?

EXPRESS Donald Trump's ultimatum ends: Will war break out again on Saturday? 14 hours • 2 minutes reading time Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened Hamas with a continuation of the Gaza war if it does not release the Israeli hostages by Saturday. He left open how many hostages would have to be released in a video address after the end of a security cabinet meeting lasting several hours. "If Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon, the ceasefire will end and the IDF (the army) will resume intensive fighting until Hamas is finally defeated," warned Netanyahu. Israel demands hostage release - otherwise war This left it unclear whether Israel would follow US President Donald Trump's ultimatum that all Israeli hostages must be released by Saturday noon. This was intentional, the newspaper "Times of Israel" quoted an Israeli official as saying. Israel wants to see how Hamas reacts. Israeli media reported that the government in Jerusalem is demanding the release of all surviving hostages who were to be released during the first phase of the ceasefire and hostage deal agreements. That would be nine abducted people. They do not necessarily all have to be released on Saturday. It could also be three on Saturday and more in the following days. There was no official confirmation of this at the moment. The Islamist Hamas then announced that it would abide by the ceasefire agreement as long as Israel did so. At the same time, it renewed its accusation that Israel was not fulfilling its obligations and was therefore responsible for "any complications or delays". On Monday, the Islamists announced that they would suspend the releases as long as Israel did not abide by the agreements. Israel viewed this as a breach of the agreements. Trump ultimatum ends on Saturday The ultimatum demanded by US President Donald Trump to release all hostages by Saturday noon was welcomed by members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet, but apparently not fully accepted. The ceasefire agreement and the hostage deal actually stipulate that 33 hostages will be exchanged for 1,904 imprisoned Palestinians during a first phase. Trump had proposed terminating the ceasefire if all hostages were not released by Saturday noon. Otherwise, "all hell will break loose," he threatened in Washington. The decision on this rests with Israel. A total of 76 hostages are still being held by Islamists in the Gaza Strip, 36 of whom are no longer alive according to Israeli information. So far, Hamas has released a total of 16 hostages in five exchanges. In return, Israel released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Of the remaining hostages from the first phase, eight are considered dead and nine are said to still be alive.