Palestinian children play near the rubble of their destroyed house, amid a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, in the northern Gaza Strip, on Thursday. MAHMOUD ISSA/REUTERS
The Gaza truce received a fresh lease of life as Hamas said it was committed to carrying out the release of three more Israeli hostages under a timeline set out in the cease-fire deal and the US top diplomat suggested that Israeli forces returning to the fighting in Gaza would not solve any issues.
"We are not interested in the collapse of the agreement, and we are keen on its implementation and ensuring that the occupation (Israel) adheres to it fully," Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif Al-Qanoua said. "The language of threats used by (United States President Donald) Trump and (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu does not serve the implementation of it."
However, Netanyahu's office said on Thursday that there was no agreement with Hamas regarding the exchange of prisoners and captives on Saturday. He had earlier threatened that Israel would resume "intense fighting" in Gaza.
Hamas said earlier it would postpone the next hostage-prisoner exchange expected on Saturday, accusing Israel of violating the cease-fire. Trump responded by saying all hostages must be freed by noon on Saturday or he would "let hell break out".
Since the truce began, Israeli raids have killed at least 92 Palestinians and wounded more than 800 others, said Munir al-Bursh, director general of the Gaza health ministry.
In the first 42-day phase of the deal, 33 Israeli hostages were to be released in exchange for around 1,900 mostly Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
The Red Cross expressed concern on Friday for the hostages still held in Gaza.
"The latest release operations reinforce the urgent need for ICRC access to those held hostage," the International Committee of the Red Cross, which has facilitated the exchanges, said in a statement on Friday.
Marco Rubio, US secretary of state, speaking on the radio program The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, said, "Someone has to confront those guys (Hamas). … If the countries in the region can't figure that piece out, then Israel is going to have to do it, and then we're back to where we've been … So that doesn't solve the problem."
Plan criticized
The US was eager to hear new proposals by Arab states on Gaza, Rubio was cited as saying by Al Jazeera after Trump infuriated the Arab world with a plan to displace the population of 2 million Palestinians from Gaza, establish US control over it and turn it into the "Riviera of the Middle East".
Rubio left Washington on Thursday on a trip that will take him to Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, after a first stop at the Munich Security Conference.
Diplomats say Egypt is leading efforts to present an alternative to Trump within weeks. The Egyptian proposal would involve training a new security force in Gaza, as per media reports.
Turkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also lashed out at Israel on Thursday during a visit to Pakistan, condemning ideas to forcibly displace Palestinians from their land.
Yemen's Houthi leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi said on Thursday that his group "will launch attacks against the US and Israel" if Trump's plan to force out Palestinians out of Gaza is imposed.
The US on Thursday sanctioned the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, over the ICC's investigations targeting US personnel as well as alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
The court said it had found "reasonable grounds" to believe that Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant bore "criminal responsibility" for using starvation as a weapon of warfare during the Gaza conflict, as well as committing crimes against humanity — like murder, persecution and other inhumane acts.
Contact the writers at mikegu@chinadailyhk.com.
Agencies contributed to this story.
