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Hamas Says It Will Stop Releasing Hostages, Accuses Israel of Ceasefire Violations

A man carries a tabla drum as he walks with a child past rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 10, 2025 amid the current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
A man carries a tabla drum as he walks with a child past rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 10, 2025 amid the current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
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Hamas Says It Will Stop Releasing Hostages, Accuses Israel of Ceasefire Violations

A man carries a tabla drum as he walks with a child past rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 10, 2025 amid the current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
A man carries a tabla drum as he walks with a child past rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 10, 2025 amid the current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

Palestinian group Hamas announced on Monday it would stop releasing Israeli hostages until further notice over what it said were Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement.

In reply, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Hamas had violated the ceasefire agreement with its announcement and that he had instructed the military to prepare at the highest level of readiness in Gaza and to defend Israeli communities.

Abu Obaida, a spokesperson for Hamas' military wing, said that since the ceasefire came into effect on January 19, Israel had delayed allowing displaced Palestinians from returning to northern Gaza, targeted Gazans with military shelling and gunfire and had stopped relief materials entering the territory.

The ceasefire has largely held over the past three weeks, although there have been some incidents where Palestinians have been killed by Israeli gunfire. The flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza has increased since the ceasefire, aid agencies say.

Abu Obaida said Hamas would not release any more hostages until Israel "complies and compensates for the past weeks".

Another exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners was scheduled to take place on Saturday.

HOSTAGE RELEASE

So far, 16 of the 33 hostages to be released in the first 42-day phase of the deal have come home, as well as five Thai hostages who were returned in an unscheduled release.

In exchange, Israel has released hundreds of prisoners and detainees, ranging from prisoners serving life sentences for deadly attacks to Palestinians detained during the war and held without charge.

But Hamas has accused Israel of dragging its feet on allowing aid into Gaza, one of the conditions of the first phase of the agreement, a charge Israel has rejected as untrue.

In turn, Israel has accused Hamas of not respecting the order in which the hostages were to be released and of orchestrating abusive public displays before large crowds when they have been handed over to the Red Cross.

Earlier, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said an Israeli delegation had returned from ceasefire talks in Qatar, amid already growing doubts over the Egyptian and Qatari-brokered process to end the war.

There were no immediate details on the reason for the return from the talks, which are intended to agree the basis for a second stage of the multi-phase ceasefire agreement and hostage-for-prisoner exchange reached last month.

A Palestinian official close to the discussions said progress was being held up by mistrust between the two sides, which have accused each other of breaching the terms of the ceasefire.

US President Donald Trump's statements that Palestinians should be moved out of Gaza, leaving the coastal enclave to be developed as a waterfront real estate project under US control have upended expectations for the postwar future.

Fox News on Monday released an excerpt of an interview with Trump. Asked about the plan and whether Palestinians would have the right of return, he answered: "No, they wouldn't".

"I'm talking about building a permanent place for them because if they have to return now, it’ll be years before you could ever – it's not habitable." He said he thought he could make a deal with Egypt and Jordan to take them.

Netanyahu endorsed Trump's comments when he returned from a visit to Washington at the weekend, causing irritation in Egypt, where security sources said Israel was "putting up roadblocks" to the smooth progress of the ceasefire deal, including delays to withdrawal of its troops and continuing aerial surveillance.

Talks on a second stage of the ceasefire deal, to agree the release of the remaining hostages and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces, began last week but have shown little sign of serious progress.

"There is a sense of mistrust, especially as Hamas sees a lack of implementation of the first phase of the deal when it comes to the humanitarian protocol and the allowing of the materials into Gaza as per the agreement," the official said.

Israeli public opinion was shocked by the emaciated appearance of Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Sharabi and Or Levy, the three hostages who were released on Saturday, which has complicated progress on the deal.

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Arab World

Lebanon: Hezbollah Boycotts Cabinet Session over Iran Ambassador Expulsion

A previous session of the Lebanese Parliament (National News Agency)
A previous session of the Lebanese Parliament (National News Agency)
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Lebanon: Hezbollah Boycotts Cabinet Session over Iran Ambassador Expulsion

A previous session of the Lebanese Parliament (National News Agency)
A previous session of the Lebanese Parliament (National News Agency)

Ministers from Hezbollah and its ally Amal boycotted Lebanon's cabinet session on Thursday in protest over the government declaring the Iranian ambassador persona non grata, a Lebanese official told AFP.

The two Shiite parties have a combined four ministers, with one independent Shiite also represented in the cabinet present at the meeting, the official said, as the spat over the Iranian diplomat's expulsion escalated.

Hezbollah is an armed movement backed by Iran, which also has political representation in both government and parliament.

Arab World

Lebanese Fear Another Occupation as Israel Threatens to Use Gaza Tactics in the South

Israeli military vehicles maneuver on the Lebanese side of the border, as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 25 March 2026. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
Israeli military vehicles maneuver on the Lebanese side of the border, as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 25 March 2026. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
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Lebanese Fear Another Occupation as Israel Threatens to Use Gaza Tactics in the South

Israeli military vehicles maneuver on the Lebanese side of the border, as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 25 March 2026. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
Israeli military vehicles maneuver on the Lebanese side of the border, as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 25 March 2026. EPA/ATEF SAFADI

As Israel trades fire with Hezbollah, calls for mass evacuations and sends ground troops deeper into Lebanon, its leaders have hinted at a long-term occupation modeled on the devastating conquest of much of Gaza after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

Israel says it needs to establish a zone of control in the depopulated south to shield its own northern communities, which have faced daily rocket attacks since the Iran-backed militant Hezbollah group joined the wider war. Many in Lebanon fear that could mean the open-ended displacement of over a million people, the flattening of their homes and a loss of territory.

Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said this week that it would create a “security zone” up to the Litani River, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border in some places. He said troops would destroy homes, which he claimed were being used by militants, and that residents would not return until northern Israel is safe.

The campaign would mirror the one in Gaza, in which Israeli forces flattened and largely depopulated the eastern half of the Palestinian territory, Katz said on Tuesday. Israel has said it won't withdraw from the enclave until Hamas disarms as part of a US-brokered ceasefire deal.

“We have ordered an acceleration in the destruction of Lebanese homes in contact-line villages to neutralize threats to Israeli communities, in accordance with the model of Beit Hanoun and Rafah in Gaza,” Katz said, referring to border towns that were largely obliterated.

From one war to the next

After a 2024 ceasefire halted Israel's last war with Hezbollah, Israeli forces gradually withdrew from southern Lebanon except for five strategic hilltops along the border.

Lebanese returned to find that homes, infrastructure, and some entire villages destroyed. Israel said it had dismantled Hezbollah infrastructure that could have been used to launch an Oct. 7-style attack, and it continued to strike what it said were militant targets on a near-daily basis after the truce.

Hezbollah resumed it attacks after Israel and the United States launched the war with Iran on Feb. 28, accusing Israel of having repeatedly violated the ceasefire. Israel accused Lebanon's government of failing to carry out its pledge to disarm Hezbollah, despite its unprecedented steps toward criminalizing the group.

In the latest fighting, Israel has launched blistering air raids across Lebanon, killing more than 1,000 people — mostly outside of the border area — and displacing over a million. It has warned residents to evacuate a wide swath of the south, extending from the border to the Zahrani River, some 55 kilometers (34 miles) away.

The Israeli military says it has launched a limited ground operation. Political leaders speak of more ambitious plans.

Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's far-right finance minister and a member of its Security Cabinet, said this week that the current war must end with “fundamental change.”

“The Litani must be our new border with the state of Lebanon,” he said.

Echoes of an earlier occupation Israel invaded southern Lebanon in 1982 during the country's civil war. Hezbollah, established that year, waged a guerrilla campaign that eventually ended the Israeli occupation in 2000.

This time around, Israel has bombed seven bridges over the Litani, the northern edge of a UN-patrolled buffer zone established after previous conflicts. Israel says Hezbollah was using the bridges to move fighters and weapons, and that its military will control the remaining crossings.

Heavy fighting has meanwhile erupted in the town of Khiam, the fall of which would cut off the south from Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley, another area with a large Hezbollah presence.

After the bridges were bombed, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun accused Israel of seeking to sever the south from the rest of the country “to establish a buffer zone, entrench the reality of occupation, and pursue Israeli expansion within Lebanese territories.”

UN peacekeepers say the bombing of the bridges and ongoing clashes have hindered their operations and put personnel at risk.

“This is the closest fighting activity we have seen to our positions,” said Kandice Ardel, spokesperson for the UN mission known as UNIFIL. “Bullets, fragments, and shrapnel have hit buildings and open areas inside our headquarters.”

Ardel said peacekeepers at observation points have seen a growing presence of Israeli troops and “engineering assets,” though they have not seen any new military positions built yet.

‘Different shades’ of control

Mohanad Hage Ali, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East think tank in Beirut, said Israel has already established “different shades” of control.

“The first line of borders is a no-man zone. This is basically a large parking lot that is facing Israel,” he said. “There is nothing there, no movement, nothing at all.”

Lebanese movement is restricted farther north. During last year's olive harvest, farmers struggled to reach their groves because of regular Israeli strikes and had to be accompanied by Lebanese troops and UNIFIL peacekeepers, who coordinated with Israel.

Sarit Zehavi, the founder and president of the Alma Institute and a retired Israeli military officer, said Israel will likely establish a more extensive area of control stretching farther north.

She acknowledged that Israel was unlikely to defeat Hezbollah and was at risk of having to maintain a long-term presence in southern Lebanon.

“But the other alternative is to take the risk that we will be slaughtered. It’s as simple as that,” she said.

No diplomatic offramp in sight

Lebanon's government has broken a longstanding taboo by proposing direct talks with Israel. It has also taken action against Hezbollah since the last war, criminalizing its activities and claiming to have dismantled hundreds of military positions.

But neither the US nor Israel has shown any interest in such talks as they focus on the wider war with Iran.

If negotiations occur, Israel could demand major concessions in exchange for relinquishing territory taken by force — an updated version of the decades-old “land for peace” formula.

Israel seized parts of Syria after the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad and is in talks with the new government in Damascus about an updated security arrangement. In Gaza, it has vowed to keep half the territory until the militant Palestinian Hamas group lays down its arms, as each side has accused the other of violating the truce reached in October.

Lebanese who fled their homes are meanwhile in limbo — and some fear they may never return.

Elias Konsol and his neighbors fled the Christian border village of Alma al-Shaab with UNIFIL's help. He was reunited with his mother, who cried in his arms, at a church near Beirut where funeral services were being held for a resident killed in an Israeli strike.

Konsol said there were no weapons or Hezbollah fighters in his village, but it was forced to evacuate anyway.

“We no longer know our fate,” he said. “We don’t know if we will see our homes and village again.”

Arab World

Lebanon: Hezbollah Claims Targeting 10 Israeli Merkava Tanks

Israeli tanks near the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the US-Israeli conflict with Iran continues, in northern Israel, March 25, 2026. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
Israeli tanks near the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the US-Israeli conflict with Iran continues, in northern Israel, March 25, 2026. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
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Lebanon: Hezbollah Claims Targeting 10 Israeli Merkava Tanks

Israeli tanks near the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the US-Israeli conflict with Iran continues, in northern Israel, March 25, 2026. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
Israeli tanks near the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the US-Israeli conflict with Iran continues, in northern Israel, March 25, 2026. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

Lebanon's Iran-aligned Hezbollah group said Thursday that it struck10 Israeli Merkava tanks in three southern towns along the border.

In a series of separate statements, Hezbollah said that its members targeted the advanced Israeli tanks with guided missiles in the towns of Deir Siryan, Debel, and Al-Qantara, and achieved confirmed hits.

Earlier, Hezbollah said it targeted the headquarters of the Israeli Ministry of War in the center of Tel Aviv, and the Dolphin barracks of the Military Intelligence Division north of Tel Aviv with a number of missiles.

The Israeli military said an Israeli soldier was killed in fighting in south Lebanon after the army announced it was conducting ground operations against Hezbollah.

"Staff sergeant Ori Greenberg, aged 21, from Petah Tikva, a soldier of the Reconnaissance unit, Golani Brigade, fell during combat in southern Lebanon," the military said.

In total, three Israeli soldiers have been killed in fighting in south Lebanon since Hezbollah drew the country into the Israel and US war on Iran by launching rocket attacks against Israel on March 2 to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Israel is responding by launching large-scale raids on Lebanon, while its forces have advanced into southern Lebanon.

After the Lebanese Presidency repeatedly announced its readiness to open direct negotiations with Israel in order to end the war, Hezbollah announced its refusal to negotiate "under fire."

Its Secretary-General, Naim Qassem, said Wednesday in a statement: "When negotiating with the Israeli enemy under fire is proposed, it is an imposition of surrender and a deprivation of all of Lebanon's capabilities."

He called on the government to "reverse its decision to criminalize resistance and the resistance fighters," after announcing a ban on the party's security and military activities, as part of a series of unprecedented measures it has taken since the outbreak of the war.