In preparation for a potential resurgence of hostilities in Gaza, Israel has summoned reservists as Hamas faces a deadline to release additional Israeli captives by Saturday, at the risk of breaking the ceasefire that has been in place for almost a month.

Under the ceasefire deal in force since January 19, the Palestinian terror group agreed to free three more hostages on Saturday.

But it said this week it was suspending the handover because of what it said were Israeli violations of the terms.

US President Donald Trump responded by saying all hostages must be freed by noon on Saturday or he would “let hell break out.” 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cautioned that should Hamas fail to adhere to the deadline, Israel will engage in renewed and fierce combat, although the exact number of hostages to be freed was not specified.

This tense situation poses a threat of reigniting a conflict that has brought immense devastation to the Gaza Strip, displacing much of its population internally and leading to severe shortages of essentials such as food, water, and shelter. Additionally, the region faces the looming possibility of being drawn into a broader regional conflict.

Israeli officials said government ministers had endorsed Trump’s threat to “cancel” the ceasefire unless all the remaining Israeli hostages are released on Saturday.

Hamas has said it remains committed to the agreement but has not agreed to release the hostages on Saturday.

A Palestinian official close to the talks said mediators had stepped up their intervention “to prevent things sliding into a real crisis.”

“Things are not yet clear, but there is a big intervention from the side of the mediators with both sides in an attempt to resolve the impasse and ensure no pauses in the ceasefire agreement,” said the official, who asked not to be identified.

Asked for comment on where things stand, another Hamas official told Reuters, without giving details: “Contacts are under way.”

The Gaza war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which at least 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 were taken as hostages into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

In response, Israel began a military offensive against Hamas that has laid waste the coastal enclave and killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.

FEARS OF REGIONAL INSTABILITY

So far, Hamas has released 16 Israeli hostages from an initial group of 33 children, women and older men to be exchanged for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in the first stage of a multi-phase ceasefire deal. In addition, it has also returned five Thai hostages in an unscheduled release.

Negotiations on a second phase of the agreement, which mediators had hoped would include agreement on the release of the remaining hostages as well as the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, were supposed to be underway in Doha, but an Israeli team returned home on Monday, two days after arriving.

The threat to cancel a 42-day ceasefire that formed the basis on the agreement has drawn thousands of Israeli protesters to the streets this week, calling on the government to continue with the deal to bring the remaining hostages back.

A plan announced by Trump to take over Gaza, move out its more than 2 million Palestinian inhabitants and redevelop it into an international beach resort could also fuel regional instability, senior Arab officials said on Wednesday.

Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit told the World Government Summit in Dubai that if Trump pressed ahead with his vision for Gaza, he would lead the Middle East into a new cycle of crises with a “damaging effect on peace and stability.”

Palestinians fear a repeat of the “Nakba,” or catastrophe when nearly 800,000 people fled or were driven out during the 1948 war that led to the creation of Israel. Trump has said they would have no right to return.

Jasem al-Budaiwi, who heads the oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council political and economic alliance, called on Trump to remember the strong ties between the region and Washington.

“But there has to be give and take, he says his opinion and Arab world should say theirs; what he is saying won’t be accepted by the Arab world,” he said.

Trump has said the Palestinians in Gaza could settle in countries such as Jordan, which already has a huge Palestinian population, and Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous state. Both have rejected the proposal.

Egypt will host an emergency Arab summit on February 27 to discuss “serious” developments for Palestinians.

Aboul Gheit said the idea of the Arab Peace Initiative floated in 2002, in which Arab nations offered Israel normalized ties in return for a statehood deal with the Palestinians and full Israeli withdrawal from territory captured in 1967, would be reintroduced.

Trump’s plan has upended decades of US policy that endorsed a two-state solution in which Israel and a Palestinian state would coexist.