Netanyahu issues threat to annul ceasefire agreement at last moment
Date
1/21/2025 7:01:29 AM
(MENAFN) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that he will cancel an impending ceasefire with Hamas if the militant group does not provide a list of the Israeli hostages it plans to release in the first phase of the truce. Israel and Hamas had agreed on a three-phase deal to end their 15-month conflict, which has caused significant loss of life on both sides. The first stage involves Hamas exchanging 33 hostages for an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners. The deal is set to take effect on Sunday, following approval by Netanyahu's cabinet on Saturday.
However, Netanyahu claimed that Hamas had failed to provide the promised list of hostages to be released, making it impossible for Israel to proceed with the ceasefire framework. He emphasized that Israel would not tolerate any violations of the agreement and held Hamas responsible for the situation.
Netanyahu referred to the ceasefire as "temporary" and warned that Israel would resume fighting if subsequent stages of the deal were not met. He also threatened that Israeli forces would strike Gaza with even greater force. Despite presenting the ceasefire as a victory, Netanyahu faced criticism from relatives of the hostages and accusations of sabotaging previous ceasefire attempts to appease his hardline coalition partners.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, one of Netanyahu’s hardline allies, threatened to pull his party out of the coalition over the deal, although he stated that he would not attempt to topple the government. Hamas, in a statement, claimed that Israel failed to achieve its objectives in Gaza and accused Israeli forces of committing war crimes.
MENAFN21012025000045015687ID1109112519
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.