https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-intense-fighting-to-resume-in-gaza-if-ho...Netanyahu: ‘Intense fighting’ to resume in Gaza if hostages not released by Saturday
While PM’s statement does not explicitly call for all captives to be returned by week’s end,
as Trump has demanded, an unnamed senior official later says Israel wants ‘all of them’
![... ...](https://static-cdn.toi-media.com/www/uploads/2025/02/IMG_2822-640x400.jpg)
By Lazar Berman Follow
and ToI Staff
11 February 2025,
The ceasefire will be over and Israel will resume “intense fighting” in Gaza if Hamas doesn’t release “our hostages” by midday Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement Wednesday evening, after a four-hour security cabinet meeting.
“If Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon, the ceasefire will end, and the IDF will return to intense fighting until Hamas is finally defeated,” he declared.
The premier said that the security cabinet “welcomed [US President Donald] Trump’s demand for the release of our hostages by Saturday noon, and we all also welcomed the president’s revolutionary vision for the future of Gaza.”
The meeting came a day after Hamas said it would delay Saturday’s hostage release until further notice due to what it claimed were “Israeli violations” of the truce.
Later on Tuesday evening, Hamas issued a statement claiming it was “committed to the ceasefire agreement that the (Israeli) occupation also committed to,” and asserting that Israel was “the party that did not abide by its commitments and is responsible for any complications or delays.” However, it did not say that it would release three hostages on Saturday as required by the deal.