Netanyahu says Gaza ceasefire will end if Hamas does not return hostages by Saturday – live updates

Jeremy Bowen
International Editor

Hamas are contending that aid isn’t getting in to the extent it was promised.

There are Palestinians who have been shot by the Israeli army, which Hamas is condemning, and there are question marks about whether temporary shelters have come in.

There are enough days left to try to resolve the situation, and if they want to continue with the ceasefire, hostage and prisoner releases on both sides, they are going to have to do that.

However, the mood has changed because of Donald Trump and his comments on Gaza.

These have emboldened right-wing Israeli nationals and Netanyahu really feels as if he’s got the wind behind him, and the Palestinians are feeling even more threatened than they were before.

Particularly in terms of the possibility that more than 2 million will be expelled from Gaza.

If the hostages are not returned on Saturday, Donald Trump said all “hell will break loose”.

It’s not clear whether Trump is saying “this is something I would do if I was running the whole operation there” – his remarks are probably deliberately ambiguous on all of that.

When Trump says things, even if the plans don’t come to pass, it has an impact and it feeds into attitudes on both sides.

If the hostage release goes ahead, the bigger issue is whether they get to phase two of the deal.

The next phase is about governance of Gaza and further hostage and prisoner releases.

At the moment, Netanyahu is still saying there’s a great new Trump plan. So the kind of ideas of a revamped Palestinian authority floated by the Biden administration seem to be kicked way off course.