Israel: Hamas plans to release more hostages on Saturday

DER SPIEGEL Israel: Hamas plans to release more hostages on Saturday 6 hours • 3 minutes reading time A few days ago, Hamas announced that it would temporarily suspend the hostage deal with Israel. Now the terrorist organization has announced that it will release three abductees from the Gaza Strip over the weekend. The indirect talks between Israel and Hamas on the further implementation of the ceasefire agreement were successful. The Islamist Hamas says it will continue to implement the ceasefire agreement. This also includes the release of hostages within the agreed time frame, explains the Palestinian terrorist organization. Hamas plans to release three more hostages on Saturday. The talks in Cairo were positive, the statement continued. Negotiators Qatar and Egypt assured that they would continue to work on "removing obstacles". Hamas had initially postponed the release of the next group of hostages, originally planned for Saturday, indefinitely. They accused Israel of not adhering to the ceasefire agreement. Israel firmly rejected this and threatened to restart the war if no more hostages were released. In return for the hostages, Palestinian prisoners are to be released again. Hamas makes accusations against Israel According to Hamas, Israel will increase the number of aid deliveries that are allowed to enter the destroyed Gaza Strip. In addition, heavy construction machinery for clearing rubble and residential containers may be brought into the blocked coastal area. However, this was denied by the Israeli side. Hamas' accusation was that Israel was not allowing sufficient deliveries of residential containers, tents and heavy construction machinery for clearing rubble. In addition, 92 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in the sealed coastal area during the ceasefire. The Israeli authority responsible for Palestinian affairs, Cogat, rejected the accusations regarding the aid deliveries. During the ceasefire, around 15,000 trucks carrying humanitarian aid drove into the Gaza Strip, it was said. They transported food, drinking water, fuel, medicine, medical equipment, tents, shelters and heavy clearance equipment. Ultimatum from Trump and Netanyahu US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had given Hamas an ultimatum to force the release of the remaining hostages. Trump threatened that "all hell would break loose" if Hamas did not release the hostages as agreed. Netanyahu, for his part, declared that the Israeli army would resume fighting if Hamas did not release the hostages. Netanyahu did not say how many hostages would have to be released to prevent a new round of fighting. Israeli media reported that the government in Jerusalem was 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. The ceasefire agreement and the hostage deal actually stipulate that, during a first phase, 33 hostages will be gradually exchanged for 1,904 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. A total of 76 hostages are currently being held in the Gaza Strip. According to Israeli sources, 36 of them are no longer alive, so in their case the issue is the handover of their remains. Most recently, Hamas released a total of 16 Israeli hostages in five exchanges. In return, Israel released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.