The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas is delaying the release of 13 more Israeli hostages handed over to the Red Cross. The militants called on Israel to send more food trucks into the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
Hamas is delaying the release of the hostages, claiming "violations" by Israel
The publication's sources report that Egyptian and Qatari mediators are working to resolve the delay in exchanging hostages.
In turn, The Times of Israel reports that the military wing of Hamas has announced that it has decided to delay the release of the second batch of hostages. However, shortly before that, an official Hamas representative said the dismissal was already underway.
The military wing says it is delaying the release of the hostages "until the occupation begins to comply with the terms of the agreement on the entry of humanitarian aid trucks into the northern part of the Gaza Strip, as well as due to the failure to meet agreed standards for the release of prisoners."
However, Israel has let 200 trucks into the Strip as required by the agreement, and Israel's COGAT military spokesman for Palestinian relations said earlier that 50 of those trucks had reached northern Gaza.
Meanwhile, a senior Hamas official, Taher al-Nono, said earlier that Israel had allegedly failed to meet the conditions for the release of Palestinian prisoners, which Hamas had insisted be released in a different order than Israel had done.
Israel threatened to resume hostilities
According to media reports, an Israeli official has threatened to resume military operations if the next batch of Israeli hostages is not released from the Gaza Strip by midnight.
The official's words were quoted in several Hebrew media, but there was no official confirmation.
The second batch of hostages was supposed to be released at 4:00 p.m., but they have not yet started this process.
