Senior Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri spoke to Al Jazeera on Wednesday evening and stated that Hamas is “committed” to implementing the previously agreed schedule of the hostage deal and that they will not release “all” Israeli hostages on Saturday.
Abu Zuhri’s comments likely came as part of a larger statement to Al Jazeera regarding Hamas’s views towards the potential breakdown of the ceasefire agreement.
Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that if Hamas does not release the Israeli hostages by Saturday, all hell will break loose.
This referenced US President Donald Trump when he said, “If all the Gaza hostages aren’t returned by Saturday at 12 p.m., I would say cancel the ceasefire. Let all hell break loose; Israel can override it,” on Tuesday.
“But as far as I’m concerned… I would say cancel it, and all bets are off,” he added. “All of them, not in drips and drabs, not two and one and three and four and two,” Trump added.
The original hostage release schedule
According to the original terms of Phase I of the hostage release and ceasefire agreement, three hostages were scheduled to be released this coming Saturday.
Given Abu Zuhri’s statement that Hamas remains “committed” to the original hostage release schedule, it is likely that they intend to follow through with releasing three Israeli hostages.
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