Hamas to delay next hostage handoff with Israel

The Gaza-based terrorist group Hamas said on Monday it would not hand over any more Israeli hostages, accusing Israel of violating their ceasefire agreement. Hamas previously was scheduled to hand over more hostages on Saturday, Feb. 15. The terrorists said they would not release hostages until Israel committed to no longer violating the agreement and compensated Hamas for past violations.

The two sides have conducted five exchanges so far during the ceasefire, which went into effect last month. Hamas has released a total of 21 hostages in exchange for the freedom of more than 730 Palestinians held as prisoners by Israel.

What provisions of the ceasefire did Israel allegedly violate? Hamas accused Israel of preventing Palestinian refugees from returning to the Gaza Strip, bombing and shooting Palestinians in some areas of Gaza, and withholding some humanitarian aid. Meanwhile, Hamas claimed it upheld its side of the ceasefire agreement.

What has Israel said about the situation? Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not immediately respond to Hamas’ statement about refusing to hand over more hostages. The Israel Defense Forces on Monday confirmed that it conducted recent military operations in Gaza. Israeli soldiers killed dozens of terrorists, seized many weapons, and arrested hundreds of wanted individuals, the IDF said. The Israeli military claims to take measures to avoid civilian casualties when conducting military operations. Those measures include dropping flyers warning of impending military activities, and calling cellphones in areas that the Israeli troops are about to move into.

Dig deeper: Read Christina Grube and Stephen Kloosterman’s report in The Sift about the latest Hamas hostage release.