Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that if Hamas does not release the Israeli hostages by Saturday afternoon, the cease-fire in Gaza will break and fighting will escalate. He said that he has ordered the Israeli army to deploy in and around Gaza.

Netanyahu welcomed US President Donald Trump's statement and stated that if the hostages are not released, the Israeli forces will start a tough fight until Hamas is defeated. Earlier, President Trump warned that he would announce the end of the ceasefire if Hamas did not release all hostages by 12 noon on Saturday . After a four-hour long meeting of the Israeli Security Council, Netanyahu issued a video message stating that he "welcomed President Trump's suggestion".

"As Hamas has decided to violate the agreement and not release our hostages, we have given instructions for the deployment of the IDF in and around Gaza Strip," he said. Earlier, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that blocking the release of the hostages was a complete violation of the ceasefire and instructed the army to be vigilant.

Meanwhile, the Hamas team reached Cairo, Egypt on Wednesday for the ceasefire talks. BBC reports that the group has started meeting with Egyptian officials on the implementation of the ceasefire agreement. Egypt is the main mediator in the talks between Israel and Hamas. The news agency AFP quoted a Hamas official as saying that the delegation will "discuss measures to end the current crisis and ensure commitment to the implementation of the agreement".

Earlier, Hamas said that Israel was not sincere about the ceasefire and would stop the release of the hostages. Hamas spokesman Abu Obeid accused Israel of not allowing displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza, firing on residents and not allowing the distribution of humanitarian aid as agreed upon, according to the cease-fire agreement. In response to that, US President Donald Trump warned that if Hamas does not release all hostages by 12 noon on Saturday, he will end the ceasefire and eliminate Hamas.

Trump said that not one or two people should be released in installments, but all the hostages should be released at once. Trump said that the final decision on this matter will be taken by Israel. Before assuming the office of the President, Trump promised to stop the war . But his latest comment is contrary to that. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has kept the way open for the release of the hostages according to the ceasefire agreement. According to the BBC, Netanyahu insisted on freeing the hostages, even if not all at once.

According to the cease-fire agreement, Hamas must release three Israeli hostages on Saturday. Their names should be released by Friday. In return, the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons were set to be released. However, if Israel fulfills its obligations according to the cease-fire agreement, the door to the prisoner exchange on Saturday will remain open, Hamas said. Hamas has stated that it is committed to the ceasefire agreement and said that Israel is responsible for any complications or delays.

Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim said the door is open for mediators from the US, Qatar and Egypt to intervene and implement a ceasefire agreement. "We do not want to see this agreement broken," he said, "We are trying our best to avoid any obstacles or challenges." Therefore, we are ready to hand over the hostages if the situation is improved through the mediator.

After 15 months of war, the cease-fire between Hamas and Israel has been implemented since January 19. Since then, Hamas has released 16 Israeli and 5 Thai hostages. In return, 566 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons have been released.

76 people are still under the control of Hamas. Among them, 73 people were taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023. One of them is Nepali youth Bipin Joshi . Joshi from Kanchanpur went to Israel to study agriculture under the 'Learn and Earn' program. Three people have been under the control of Hamas since a decade ago.

Hamas agreed to release 33 hostages in the first phase of a three-phase ceasefire. In exchange for that, it is mentioned in the agreement that Israel will release 1900 Palestinians. According to the Israeli Prime Minister's office, 8 out of 33 have died.

The cease-fire agreement states that negotiations for the second phase will be held 16 days after the start of the first phase. But the talks have not started yet. In the second phase of the ceasefire, the rest of the hostages will be released and the Israeli forces will be completely withdrawn from Gaza. The third phase includes the reconstruction of Gaza.

Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people. 251 people were taken hostage by Hamas. After that, the war between Hamas and Israel escalated. According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, 48 thousand 189 Palestinians have lost their lives in the war since October 7. More than a third of them are children. 100,000 were injured in the Israeli attack. More than 1400 people have died in Israel. More than 60 percent of the structures have been destroyed.

Earlier, US President Trump said that he would take control of the Gaza Strip and relocate the Palestinians. Soon after that, there was all-round opposition to him . The Palestinian group Hamas, Palestine, Egypt, Britain, France, Russia, Saudi Arabia, China, Australia, Turkey and other countries condemned Trump's comments. During a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who is visiting America, Trump said that "the United States will take control of the Gaza Strip and destroy all the dangerous explosive bombs and other weapons there."

Soon after that, Hamas said that Trump's proposal was unacceptable . "Such comments are hostile to our people and our cause and do not benefit the stability of the region," Hamas spokesman Abdel Latif al-Kanoou said in a statement. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also opposed Trump's proposal. Abbas's office issued a statement saying that "the proposal by the President and the Palestinian leadership to occupy Gaza and displace Palestinians from their homeland is unacceptable".