The Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas has looked shaky, since it came into force on January 19, 2025, but now looks the closest yet to totally falling apart.
A senior Egyptian source told the BBC that regional mediators Egypt and Qatar were “intensifying their diplomatic efforts in an attempt to salvage the ceasefire agreement”.
A top-level Hamas delegation has now arrived in Cairo for talks “to contain the current crisis”, a Hamas official told the BBC. He reiterated his group’s “full commitment” to the terms of the deal.
On Tuesday, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “If Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon, the ceasefire will end and the [Israeli military] will resume intense fighting.”
However, there has been mixed messaging on whether he means all 76 hostages still in Gaza – in line with the high-stakes ultimatum recommended by US President Donald Trump.
Read Also: Gaza ceasefire under threat as Hamas threatens to delay Israeli hostages’ release
Trump was reacting to a Hamas threat to derail the agreement on Monday.
It complained of Israeli ceasefire violations, in particular relating to aid, and warned that it would delay the release of hostages on Saturday.
In the past week, the president’s new radical plan for a US takeover of Gaza – without its two million Palestinian residents – has also changed the context for the ceasefire which his administration helped to broker.
On Wednesday, the White House restated Trump’s plan, while admitting that Jordan’s King Abdullah II had rejected the idea during talks in Washington a day earlier.
“The king would much prefer that the Palestinians stay in place,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “But the president feels it would be much better and more majestic if these Palestinians could be moved to safer areas.”
So, what more do we know about what has been happening behind the scenes?
When it comes to the outcome of the four-hour Israeli security cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Israeli journalists admitted puzzlement over contradictory and confusing briefings.
After the Israeli prime minister’s video message demanded the release of “our” hostages, the first reports – quoting an unnamed senior Israeli official – said this referred to the original three male hostages scheduled to be freed.
It was then said that Israel expected the final nine living hostages slated for release in the six-week first phase of the ceasefire to be freed, which is supposed to see a total of 33 captives handed over.
Key ministers then began to weigh in. Miri Regev – a close ally of Netanyahu – said on X the decision was “very clear” and echoed the Trump demand. She said: “By Saturday, everyone will be released!”
The far-right Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich – who has threatened to leave Netanyahu’s coalition if there is not a return to fighting at the end of the six-week ceasefire deal – went further still.
On social media, he proposed telling Hamas to release all the hostages or else have “the gates of hell” opened, with no fuel, water or humanitarian aid entering Gaza.
He said there should be “only fire and brimstone” from Israeli warplanes and tanks, with the strip completely occupied and its population expelled.
“We have all the international backing for this matter,” he stated.
His comments indicate how Trump’s post-war vision for Gaza has strengthened the far-right in Israel.
That is said to worry the Israeli security chiefs who negotiated the current ceasefire deal and believe its collapse will endanger hostages’ lives.
Israeli media report that they are pushing for a way to bring back the next three captives held by Hamas on schedule at the weekend.
Hostages’ families and their supporters have been alarmed by the latest developments, as have war-weary Gazans.
