The Arab world is on edge as the deadline for the release of the Israeli hostages in Hamas custody approaches. U.S. President Donald Trump had warned Hamas that “all hell will break out” if all the hostages were not released by February 15, Saturday,12 noon.
Hamas had called off the truce with Israel, part of which was the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Accusing Israel of shooting at Palestinians and stopping civil supplies to Gaza, Hamas had said it would not release hostages as per the deal.
President Trump’s tough talk —”All hell would break out” if all the hostages were not released—initially evoked a defiant response from Hamas. But in the last two days, negotiations between its representatives and mediator Egypt have been going on in Cairo to get Hamas to comply with the original deal.
As per the latest reports, Hamas would release three hostages in keeping with that. Referring to it, President Trump told reporters at the Oval Office on Friday:
“ I understand Hamas has totally changed (their stance), they want to release hostages now again. You have to see this was started by them.”
About whether he would execute his warning to Hamas, the president pointed to Israel. “Depends what Bibi is going to do, depends what Israel is going to do” but left to himself he would “take a different stance,” he said.
Earlier, Secretary of State Rubio Marco told a television host in a teleconference from Germany, where he is attending the 61st Munich Conference on Security:
“It looked like the ceasefire might fall apart at some point here. Now I see news reports that it’s back on, and that would be good.”
Trump’s threat has worked, at least partially, and the peace deal seems to be back on track. The situation is being described as highly delicate, especially after the last show of brute power by Hamas a week ago, as it released three hostages looking like skeletons and reminding the world of the Holocaust survivors.
The Trump plan of taking over Gaza and reconstructing it has also created a stir in the middle east. A meeting of four Arab countries has been scheduled in Saudi Arabia on February 20 to discuss the Trump plan. A week later, on February 27, the Arab League is slated to meet on the same issue in Cairo. Rubio has stated that as of now that is the only plan for Gaza. The rest, he said, depended upon what the middle east leaders suggest.
With the heavily-armed and unrelenting Hamas continuing to call the shots in Gaza, even in the middle of the ruins the place has become, the end to the Israel-Palestine conflict is nowhere in sight. Israel’s idea to wipe out Hamas has, for now, been hijacked by the piecemeal resolution of the hostages issue.
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