An Israeli tank maneuvers on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, as seen from Israel, Feb. 12, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Israel‘s military has called up reservists in preparation for a possible resumption of fighting in Gaza if the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas fails to meet a Saturday deadline to release more Israeli hostages and a nearly month-old ceasefire breaks down.

Concern that the ceasefire will collapse is growing as fury mounts in Arab countries over President Donald Trump’s plan for the United States to take over Gaza, resettle its Palestinian inhabitants, and build an international beach resort.

A Hamas official said Egypt and Qatar, which together with the United States mediated the ceasefire deal that went into force on Jan. 19, had stepped up efforts to break the impasse and the Palestinian terrorist group’s Gaza chief, Khalil Al-Hayya, arrived in Cairo to discuss the ceasefire.

Hamas agreed under the ceasefire deal to free three more hostages on Saturday but said this week that it was suspending the handover over what it said were Israeli violations of the terms.

Trump responded by saying all hostages must be freed by noon on Saturday or he would “let hell break out”.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the truce was meant to bring about a swift release of hostages held in harsh conditions in Gaza. “If Hamas stops the hostage releases then there is no ceasefire and there is war,” he said in remarks at Israeli defense headquarters in Tel Aviv.

Katz added that “the new Gaza war” will be of another intensity altogether and “allow the realization of Trump’s vision for Gaza.”

“Hamas … will not accept the language of American and Israeli threats,” Hamas spokesperson Hazaem Qassem said in a statement. “Contacts are underway with mediator countries to conclude the implementation of the ceasefire deal.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu then said on Tuesday that his country would resume “intense fighting” if Hamas did not meet the deadline, but did not say how many hostages should be freed.

Netanyahu said he had ordered the military to gather forces in and around Gaza, and the military announced it was deploying additional forces to Israel‘s south, including mobilizing reservists.

Trump, in a White House meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah on Tuesday, asked him to ensure Hamas understood the “severity of the situation” if hostages were not freed by Saturday, the White House said on Wednesday.

The standoff threatens to reignite a conflict that has devastated the Gaza Strip and pushed the Middle East to the brink of a wider regional war.

The armed wing of Palestinian terrorist group Islamic Jihad, which is also holding Israeli hostages, warned that the hostages’ fate was tied to Netanyahu’s actions.

“The only way to retrieve hostages and for stability to come back is through a [hostage-prisoner] swap deal,” its spokesperson said on Telegram.

In a further sign of Arab anger over Trump’s vision of Gaza, two Egyptian security sources said Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi would not go to Washington for talks if the agenda included Trump’s plan to displace Palestinians.

The date for such a visit has not been announced, and the Egyptian presidency and foreign ministry did not comment.

SOME HOSTAGES ALREADY FREED

The Gaza war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in which at least 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 were taken as hostages into Gaza.

In response, Israel waged a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.

Hamas has freed 16 Israeli hostages from an initial group of 33 children, women, and older men to be exchanged for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in the first stage of the ceasefire deal. It also returned five Thai hostages.

Negotiators hope a second phase of ceasefire talks will secure agreement on releasing the remaining hostages and a full Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza.

Trump meanwhile wants Saudi Arabia, which wields heavy influence in other Arab and Muslim countries, to normalize ties with Israel. Riyadh has previously said it will not establish ties with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state.

Under his first administration in 2017-21, Trump brokered normalization accords between Israel and some Arab states, including the United Arab Emirates.

United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday that peace efforts in the region should be on the basis of a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, state news agency WAM reported.

Trump has said Palestinians in Gaza could settle in countries such as Jordan and Egypt. Both countries reject the proposal and Egypt will host an emergency Arab summit on February 27 to discuss “serious” developments for Palestinians.