Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will reportedly hold a meeting at 12:00 p.m. eastern on Saturday, President Donald Trump’s deadline for Hamas, to discuss the rest of the ceasefire agreement, his spokesperson confirmed to Fox News.
In a statement, Prime Minister Netanyahu warned that Israel is ‘preparing with full intensity for what comes next, in every sense,’ TPS-IL reported.
Earlier on Saturday, Hamas released three more hostages, including American citizen Sagui Dekel-Chen. Their release was almost delayed ‘indefinitely’ by the terror group due to alleged ceasefire violations by Israel.
Trump then said on Monday that if Hamas did not return all of the remaining hostages by noon, Israel should cancel the ceasefire and ‘let all hell break out.’
‘If all the Gaza hostages aren’t returned by Saturday at 12 p.m., I would say cancel the ceasefire,’ Trump said in the Oval Office. ‘Let all hell break out; Israel can override it.’
When Trump made the statement, it was unclear if he meant 12 p.m. eastern or Israeli time. The time of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s meeting indicates that Israel understood Trump’s deadline as 12 p.m. eastern, making it 7 p.m. local time.
On Thursday, Hamas announced it would release hostages on Saturday as planned. The group eventually named the hostages set to be released. Iair Horn and Sasha Troufanov were released alongside Dekel-Chen. All three men were taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.
While Trump was the one who originally suggested the deadline, he said on Saturday in a post on Truth Social that the United States would ‘back’ any decision that Israel made regarding further actions.
‘Hamas has just released three Hostages from GAZA, including an American Citizen. They seem to be in good shape! This differs from their statement last week that they would not release any Hostages,’ Trump wrote. ‘Israel will now have to decide what they will do about the 12:00 O’CLOCK, TODAY, DEADLINE imposed on the release of ALL HOSTAGES. The United States will back the decision they make!’
Last week, Trump expressed outrage over the condition of the hostages released by Hamas, all of whom looked frail and gaunt. Trump said that the three men ‘looked like Holocaust survivors’ and ‘like they haven’t had a meal in a month.’
Israel and Hamas are engaged in a ceasefire deal that went into effect on Jan. 19. Throughout the six-week deal, Hamas is expected to release 33 hostages in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.