Hamas postpones release of more hostages ‘until further notice’

JERUSALEM — Hamas has indefinitely postponed the release of Israeli hostages who were set to be freed from the Gaza Strip this weekend, a spokesperson said Monday, accusing Israel’s government of violating an already fragile ceasefire agreement.

The move threatens to derail both the six-week truce agreed to last month and the prospects for agreement on a lasting end to the war. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was consulting with his top advisers Monday night, and planned to move up a scheduled meeting with his security Cabinet to Tuesday morning, a top official said.

Hamas and Israel have accused each other of violating various aspects of the ceasefire agreement, but they have continued to release Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners each week.

The statement on postponing the hostage release came shortly after the publication of a clip of a Fox News interview in which President Donald Trump said Palestinians would not be allowed to return to Gaza under his plan to relocate the entire population — which Hamas and much of the international community have rejected emphatically.

Hours later, a Hamas spokesperson in Gaza, Hazem Qasem, said “new demands are not acceptable.”

“We have an agreement to implement,” Qasem told a Saudi-based TV station, Al-Hadath. “We are open to ideas regarding a new form of Palestinian government and administration of Gaza, but not to the deportation.”

While another Hamas spokesperson, Abu Obeida, said Monday that this weekend’s hostage exchange was on hold, mediators from Qatar and Egypt could work with Israeli and Hamas negotiators to find a resolution before then. In January, mediators helped the two parties overcome a separate dispute.

On another front, the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, ordered changes to the policy of paying the families of Palestinians who are jailed or killed by Israel, even those involved in violent acts — a practice that has long been denounced by Israel and the United States. The language of Abbas’ decree is opaque, leaving it unclear how such payments would change.

In Gaza, a key point of tension between Israel and Hamas is the fate of the second phase of the deal, which calls for a permanent end to the fighting, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the release of more hostages and prisoners.

Talks on the details were supposed to begin last week, but Israel dispatched officials to Qatar without a mandate to negotiate that part of the deal, according to four Israeli officials, an official from a mediating country and a diplomat briefed on the talks, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the delicate ceasefire.

Netanyahu has suggested that he won’t pursue the second phase of the deal if it means the war will end. The war has fallen short of his vows to wipe out Hamas as a fighting force and prevent it from asserting control over Gaza. For its part, Hamas has insisted that the second phase include the end of the conflict.

In a statement on Telegram on Monday, Obeida accused Israel of a host of violations of the ceasefire agreement, including delaying the return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza, blocking the delivery of some humanitarian aid and opening fire on civilians.

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