I Told You So

I said from the beginning that Hamas would break the current hostage deal in large part because they’ve broken all the previous ones, some before the ink dried on the deals. And now they are saying they are delaying any more hostage exchanges as we see in a report from The Times Of Israel:

The Hamas terror group announced Monday that it intended to delay the next release of Israeli hostages, slated for Saturday, “until further notice,” in response to what it claimed were Israeli violations of the ongoing hostage-ceasefire deal.

This is ironic since Hamas hasn’t followed the agreement from the start. Israel is meeting to decide how to respond on all fronts:

The announcement prompted the prime minister to move up a security cabinet meeting, as the defense minister ordered the military on high alert. It came as the deal’s future remains uncertain, with Israel yet to send negotiators to Qatar with a mandate to discuss its potential second stage, despite the passage of a deadline to do so stipulated in the agreement.

Netanyahu must have known that this move by Hamas was coming as he signaled that fighting again is on the horizon:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has in recent days kept the door open to resuming fighting with Hamas, rather than continuing to a second phase of the deal, while US President Donald Trump has called for an American takeover of the enclave and the relocation of all of its residents.

Hamas gave examples of the deal breakers, at least from their view:

Hamas military wing spokesman Hudhaifa Kahlout — known by the nom de guerre, “Abu Obeida” — said Monday that Israel had not fulfilled its obligations under the agreement over the past three weeks, claiming that the Israel Defense Forces are obstructing the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza and targeting Palestinians returning to the north of the Strip.

“The release of the prisoners, which was scheduled for next Saturday, February 15, 2025, will be postponed until further notice, pending the occupation’s compliance and retroactive fulfillment of the past weeks’ obligations,” he said, referring to the hostages Hamas took on October 7, 2023.

“We reaffirm our commitment to the terms of the agreement as long as the occupation adheres to them,” the spokesman added.

The terrorist group which no doubt wants to be seen as the reasonable party and also to make Israel look like the unfaithful party said this:

In later comments, the terror group said it was open to fulfilling the release on time if Israel ceases its ostensible violations. It said it had intentionally made the announcement five days ahead of the planned release “to give the mediators sufficient opportunity to pressure the occupation to implement its obligations, and to keep the door open to implement the exchange on time if the occupation adheres to its obligations.”

More Details

The Times article goes on to expand on Hamas’s claims while one Israeli source thinks the timing of the announcement gives Israel time to respond:

Channel 12 also quoted an Israeli source who noted that if Hamas had wanted to blow up the deal, it could have announced the delay closer to the scheduled release, rather than with almost a full week left to return to schedule.

We’re given more reasons for the delay:

In its statement on Monday, Hamas said it had “closely monitored the enemy’s violations and failure to abide by the terms of the agreement over the past three weeks.”

“These include delaying the return of displaced people to northern Gaza, targeting them with shelling and gunfire across various areas of the Strip, and failing to allow the entry of humanitarian aid in all its forms as agreed upon,” he added, asserting Hamas had “fulfilled all its obligations.”

Israel moved out of an area they’ve held for some time as part of the deal:

Israeli forces withdrew from the entire Netzarim Corridor in the central Gaza Strip overnight Saturday-Sunday, in accordance with the hostage release-ceasefire deal, allowing Palestinians to return to areas that had been controlled by the IDF since the early days of the war.

It isn’t a coincidence that there was aggression by terrorists disguised as citizens, although Hamas will say it wasn’t them:

On Sunday, IDF troops opened fire on a group of dozens of Palestinians who approached the Israeli border in the northern Strip, reaching just a few hundred meters from troops who were stationed in a buffer zone. The IDF said the forces moved forward with military vehicles and fired warning shots.

One day there is a withdrawal and then aggressive moves against the IDF, and the next Hamas drops the news of Israel breaking the deal using the same incident as one of the reasons. Another point of dispute is the humanitarian aid:

It was not immediately clear what Hamas was referring to in its comments about humanitarian aid, which has been entering the Strip in great quantities. The terror group has in the past claimed that specific items, such as fuel, tents, and heavy machinery, were not being allowed into the enclave, which Israel has denied.

Don’t be fooled by these charges which are never true but part of Hamas’ public relations operations meant to make Israel look like they don’t care for their needy people, people who are in need because of the war they started. As mentioned earlier, Israel is working on their response:

Following the announcement, Netanyahu held a consultation with the defense establishment leadership to discuss the matter, an official said.

The official told the media that Netanyahu would also move up a security cabinet meeting scheduled for Tuesday afternoon to the morning, following the terror group’s statement.

Israeli negotiators returned from Doha earlier Monday in advance of the meeting, after some 24 hours in Qatar, Hebrew media reported. The negotiators were in Qatar to discuss matters related to the current phase of the ceasefire, rather than the next one.

Israel’s View

Defense Minister Israel Katz on Monday called the terror group’s move to delay the hostage release an “outright violation of the ceasefire,” and said he had ordered the IDF to “prepare at the highest level of alert for any possible scenario in Gaza and to protect the [border] communities.”

“We will not return to the reality of October 7,” he said.

All of these comments from both sides will no doubt affect the negotiations:

Meanwhile, mediators feared a breakdown of the agreement, two Egyptian security sources told Reuters.

And there’s enough blame from Hamas to also include President Donald Trump:

Hamas negotiators said US guarantees for the ceasefire were no longer in place, given a proposal by US President Donald Trump to displace Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, and mediators postponed talks until a clear indication of Washington’s intent to continue the phased deal was received.

Kahlil al-Hayya, a member of the terror group’s politburo, said Monday at the 46th anniversary of the Iranian revolution in Tehran that Trump’s Gaza plan was “doomed.”

The Hamas member also talked about taking down the Great Satan as terrorist call America:

Referring to Trump, the United States and the West, he added: “We will bring them down as we brought down the projects before them.”

He also puts the blame on Trump for the hostage deal being in trouble rather than taking any blame themselves:

Hamas has also reportedly indicated that Trump’s plan could jeopardize the deal with Israel.

Netanyahu assured political leaders that their war goals are still in place:

Netanyahu, meanwhile, told the Knesset on Monday, “We see eye to eye with the US administration on realizing all our war goals, including eliminating Hamas, getting all our hostages home, ensuring that Gaza will never again be a threat to Israel, [and] returning our residents to the north and the south.”

As we should expect, hostage forums see the need to get the remaining hostages back home quickly with some wanting to get the remaining 76 back at one time. Seeing the condition of the three released hostages only furthered that demand. One lawmaker only sees one way to get things done:

Former national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir called for Israel to resume its campaign against Hamas in Gaza in light of the announcement.

The far-right lawmaker, who opposed the ceasefire and quit the government over it, said Israel should carry out “a massive assault on Gaza, from the air and land, alongside a complete halt to humanitarian aid to the Strip, including electricity, fuel, and water, and including the bombing of aid packages that have already been brought in and are in the hands of Hamas.”

“We must return to war and destroy [Hamas]!” he wrote in a post on X.

The US President said that he’s close to being done with Hamas:

“At some point, we are going to lose our patience” with Hamas, he warned. “They [the hostages] look like they haven’t had a meal in a month. There’s no reason for that. I don’t know how much longer we can take it.”

I don’t see how anyone can give these terrorists one more second of grace.