HAMAS said today it would release another three Israeli hostages on Saturday as planned, hoping to salvage the fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

The Islamist group had threatened to delay their release, saying that Israel has violated the terms of the ceasefire in multiple ways, from killing people in Gaza to blocking agreed aid shipments.

Since the truce took effect on January, Israel has killed 92 Palestinians and wounded over 800, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The Palestinian estimate for the total Palestinian death toll since Israel’s invasion began in late October 2023 is now over 60,000. 

The military onslaught followed a Hamas raid into Israel which killed 1,139 people, though some may have been victims of friendly fire. Former defence minister Yoav Gallant said on Israel’s Channel 12 a week ago that “in some areas” the so-called Hannibal Directive — which instructs soldiers to kill hostages together with their captors to prevent their being used as bargaining chips — was issued on October 7 2023.

Israel said today that “all hell will break loose” if Hamas does not release the next tranche of hostages by noon on Saturday in line with a prisoner-swap agreement, echoing language used by US President Donald Trump, who said any failure to adhere to terms by Hamas would be punished with “hell on Earth.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already put the army on standby to resume all-out war on Saturday if so directed.

Mr Trump did not acknowledge violations of the Gaza ceasefire deal by Israel, which also said on Wednesday night it was postponing the withdrawal of its troops from Lebanon for a second time. They have already missed an agreed January 26 deadline to pull out under the terms of a ceasefire with Hezbollah.

Within Israel, government ministers openly call for the resumption of the war, now that the Trump administration has proposed the forcible removal of Gaza’s native population. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a self-declared “fascist homophobe,” said Washington’s green light meant Israel should resume the war, oversee the “voluntary migration” of the Palestinians and resettle the coastal enclave with Israelis.