Transcript of Israel to resume “intense fighting” in Gaza if hostages not freed by Saturday | BBC News

There's fear that delicate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas could end this weekend, following comments from Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli Prime Minister says unless hostages are freed by midday on Saturday, the ceasefire will be over and the war will resume. Although some in the Israeli cabinet believe that means all the remaining hostages held by Hamas must be released. It's unclear if that's what Mr. Netanyahu meant. Three more hostages were expected to return home this Saturday, But Hamas suspended their release claiming Israel was violating the terms of the deal. Tonight, Hamas has reiterated its commitment to the ceasefire, allowing Palestinian detaunees to be freed. All this comes as Donald Trump has been meeting the King of Jordan at the White House, their first meeting since the President proposed moving the population of Gaza to Jordan and Egypt before turning the territory into the Riviera of the Middle East. Sarah Smith is our top story.

This is a crucial meeting at a delicate time, with the ceasefire in the Middle East hanging in the balance. President Trump was asked if Saturday is still his deadline for Hamas to release its hostages, and he just said, yes. Clearly sticking to his threat that unless all the hostages held by Hamas are released by the end of this week, in his words, all hell will break out. Around the same time, the Israeli Prime Minister released a video saying that if Saturday's deadline for the hostage release is not met, the ceasefire will be terminated and Israel will return to intense fighting until Hamas is defeated. The shocking emaciated condition of recently released Israeli hostages is the reason Donald Trump gives for his insistence that all the others have to be set free very soon.

There was an uproar when they saw the people from yesterday. So these people are... I don't want to do two, and then we do another two in another week, and then we do four and Three weeks now. They either have them out by Saturday at 12 o'clock or all bets are off.

In the oval office with the King of Jordan, the big issue on the table is Gaza, and President Trump's highly controversial plan for the US to take it over, claim ownership of it, and then rebuild.

We're not going to buy anything. We're going to have it, and we're going to keep it, and we're going to make sure that there's going to be peace, and there's not going to be any problem, and nobody's going to question it.

Gaza has has been largely destroyed in 16 months of war with Israel. A huge rebuilding program is required. President Trump's plan involves displacing the entire population, forcing Egypt and Jordan to take in 2 million Palestinians, something both countries have completely rejected. But King Abdullah appears prepared to discuss what might be possible.

How do we make this work in a way that is good for everybody? Obviously, we have to look at the best interests of the United States, of the people in the region, especially to my people of Jordan.

There are already more than 2 million Palestinian refugees in Jordan. King Abdullah knows that taking in even more could destabilize the whole country, as well as fundamentally undermining the prospect of an eventual Palestinian state. Let's keep talking for now, seems to be the message, though, from skeptical Middle Eastern leaders who don't want to openly contradict President Trump or risk the billions of dollars they receive in American aid. Protesters in Tel Aviv, who want the hostages to come home, are worried that everything, the recent relative peace, the hostage releases, and the next phase of talks, all now seems to be in peril.

The weather here in Washington, as you can see, has taken a turn for the worst since King Abdullah left the White House a few hours ago, and the prospects for diplomatic international agreement don't seem to have improved any either. Usually, when you have two world leaders meeting, like you saw here today, the hope, the aim is to to some agreement or consensus. If anything, individuals' nations' positions on the Middle East seem to be becoming more entrenched. After the meeting, King Abdullah said on social media that it is the position of all Arab nations that Palestinians that the unions should not be displaced from Gaza and rebuild should happen whilst they're still living there. While Donald Trump seems to be increasingly attached to what originally seemed to be his rather outlandish idea that the US take over and own the Gaza Strip and redevelop it. Then you have both President Trump and the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, doubling down on their insistence that hostages must be released by noon on Saturday or the entire ceasefire deal could be finished.

All right, Sarah, thank you for that. Sarah Smith, there, live at the White House. What's in the all-important ceasefire deal? Well, it consists of three stages, with stage one still ongoing, lasting 42 days, in which Hamas will release 33 hostages while But Israel will release around 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Israeli forces will leave populated areas in Gaza and allow displaced Palestinians to return to their homes. Hundreds of aid lorries will also be allowed into Gaza every day. Well, we'll be talking to Lise Doucet in a moment for her take on the future of the deal. But first to Wira Davis, who's live in Jerusalem. Wira, with the prospects and possibilities that this deal could end this weekend. What are the thoughts of ordinary Israelis?

Well, look, there's overwhelming support, both in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, for the ceasefire deal to continue because it's brought tangible benefits for both sides, hostages and Palestinian prisoners released from captivity. But an Israeli government minister, Miri Regev, said tonight that it expects all of the hostages to be released, 76 of them by Saturday, as outlined by Donald Trump. The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has perhaps been deliberately vague, not referring to figures, but as we've heard, saying that Israel wants its hostages released by Saturday, or the ceasefire ends and the war resumes. But it's inconceiving It's believable to many that if Hamas were to present a list of three or four named hostages by the end of the week, people it intends to release, that Netanyahu would turn around and say, No, that's not enough, the war will resume. And it will convince many people if he does that he is really what he does want to restart the war in Gaza because he does not believe that Hamas is fully defeated. We should know more by the end of the week, but these are dangerous times.

Indeed. We're a thank you for that. We're a day with you, Jerusalem. Let's talk to Lies who's with me. This deal is hanging by a thread.

Well, it's still holding, and I think people will hold on to that, but definitely, tonight, it has more cracks. From the beginning, when it started on January the 19th, it was always described as fragile. There was always this idea, certainly among the critics of the deal, that the three-phase plan, which took many, many months for Israel and Hamas through indirect talks to reach, was going to be difficult, especially in the second most difficult phase of the deal. But the first phase, which you outlined briefly, was going surprisingly well. It was clear that it was pressure from President Trump, even before he went into the White House, that that pressure help put that deal over the line. But as we've been hearing tonight, and as we've been reporting for many days now, President Trump's comments over the past week are adding new strain already to this precarious deal. His comments, some of which we've just heard, are playing into the hands of the Israeli right-wing critiques who have always described this as a temporary ceasefire. They've always wanted the war to start again once the hostages all came home, the living and the dead, so that they could carry out what they still say must be the destruction of Hamas.

Also, it seems to have been one of the many reasons why Hamas suddenly started questioning the deal today, because to their mind, why continue with this deal? If the third phase, which is about governance and reconstruction, which would involve other Arab states, rebuilding Palestinians' home in Gaza, why continue if that has now been thrown in the air by these new ideas of President Trump. So Saturday is a long way away. Between now and then, there's certain to be phone lines burning, especially the Qatari, the Egyptian mediators. We've just heard Clive from Cairo. The Egyptians have come up with a new proposal. They say, Gaza can be rebuilt, that they have a plan, which Arab states agree to, without moving the Palestinians. So I'm sure day by day, there'll be new ideas, including from President Trump himself. But tonight, it's holding, and people are holding on to that is. Indeed.

All right, Lise, thank you. Lise Lucet, our Chief International Correspondent there.