Hamas’s armed wing said they will delay Saturday’s brokered second release of hostages until Israel allows aid trucks to enter northern Gaza.
The announcement comes a day after the release of dozens of hostages held by militants, as well as Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, as part of a deal brokered by Qatar with the support of the US which has brought about a temporary pause in hostilities.
Hamas’s Izz ad-Din al-Qassam brigades added that the hostage releases would be delayed if Israel does not adhere to the agreed terms for the release of Palestinian prisoners, according to Reuters. There was no immediate Israeli response to the statement.
The Guardian could not independently verify the statement.
As part of the deal, 50 women and children held hostage by Hamas and other groups in Gaza are to be released during the four-day ceasefire, and Israel will release 150 Palestinian prisoners – all women and children – from Israeli jails, and allow hundreds of aid trucks a day to cross the Rafah border with Egypt.
The first group of hostages held by Hamas – 13 Israelis, 10 Thais and a Philippine national – were freed on Friday afternoon. Israel released 39 Palestinian prisoners – 24 women, and 15 teenagers.
The four-day ceasefire marks the first break in seven weeks of conflict that has killed more than 14,000 civilians in Gaza, and more than 1,200 people in Israel, most of whom were victims of the surprise Hamas cross-border attack on 7 October.
Of the deal, Qatar’s foreign ministry previously said the ceasefire will allow “the entry of a larger number of humanitarian convoys and relief aid, including fuel designated for humanitarian needs”.
The ceasefire would be extended by a day for every 10 additional hostages released, the Israeli government said.
In response, an Israeli military spokesperson told French television channel BFM that Israel fully respected the truce.
Osama Hamdan, a Hamas representative in Lebanon, told the Lebanon-based Al Mayadeen TV channel that the suspension was due to violations of the truce committed by Israel “linked to aid (entering Gaza), in addition to shootings and the rising death toll … Some of (these violations) happened yesterday, and repeated today,” Hamdan said.
There was no immediate comment from the International Committee of the Red Cross on whether the release of hostages and detainees had been delayed.
