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Israel Says It Needs Deal on Freeing Hostages to Extend Gaza Ceasefire

Palestinians shop at a market during the holy month of Ramadan in the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 04 March 2025. (EPA)
Palestinians shop at a market during the holy month of Ramadan in the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 04 March 2025. (EPA)
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Israel Says It Needs Deal on Freeing Hostages to Extend Gaza Ceasefire

Palestinians shop at a market during the holy month of Ramadan in the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 04 March 2025. (EPA)
Palestinians shop at a market during the holy month of Ramadan in the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 04 March 2025. (EPA)

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Tuesday Israel was ready to proceed to the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal, as long as Hamas was ready to release more of the 59 hostages it is still holding.

Fighting in Gaza has been halted since January 19 under a truce arranged with US support and Qatari and Egyptian mediators, and Hamas has exchanged 33 Israeli hostages and five Thais for some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

But the initial 42-day stage of the truce has expired and Hamas and Israel, which has blocked the entry of aid trucks into Gaza, remain far apart on broader issues including the postwar governance of Gaza and the future of Hamas itself.

"We are ready to continue to phase two," Saar told reporters in Jerusalem as Arab leaders prepared to meet in Cairo to discuss a plan for ending the war permanently.

"But in order to extend the time or the framework, we need an agreement to release more hostages."

Hamas says it wants to proceed to second-phase negotiations that could open the way to a permanent end to the war with the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the devastated Palestinian enclave and a return of the remaining 59 hostages taken in the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

But Israel says more of its hostages must be handed over for the truce to be extended. It backs a plan it says was proposed by US President Donald Trump's special Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff to extend the ceasefire through the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which began on Saturday, until after the Jewish Passover holiday in April.

Israeli government spokesperson Omer Dostri told Army Radio that Israel was allocating "a few days" for Hamas to agree to the Witkoff proposal. "If not, the cabinet will convene and decide on the next step."

Witkoff is due to visit the region in the next few days to discuss extending the ceasefire or moving ahead to phase two, the State Department said on Monday.

Saar denied Israel had breached the pact by not advancing to stage two talks. He said there was "no automaticity" between the stages and he said Hamas had itself violated the agreement to allow aid into Gaza by seizing most of the supplies itself.

Aid groups have said that looting and wrongful seizure of aid trucks into Gaza has been a major problem but Hamas, the group that seized power in Gaza in 2007, denies seizing aid for its own members.

Saar declined to comment on an Israeli media report that Israel had set a 10-day deadline to reach an agreement or resume fighting, but said: "If we want to do it, we will do it."

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Arab World

Diplomats Sought Guarantees from Hezbollah That It Will Hold Fire if Iran Is Attacked, Source Says

Mourners hold anti-US and anti-Israeli placards during a funeral ceremony for security personnel killed during anti-government protests, in Tehran, Iran, 14 January 2026. (EPA)
Mourners hold anti-US and anti-Israeli placards during a funeral ceremony for security personnel killed during anti-government protests, in Tehran, Iran, 14 January 2026. (EPA)
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Diplomats Sought Guarantees from Hezbollah That It Will Hold Fire if Iran Is Attacked, Source Says

Mourners hold anti-US and anti-Israeli placards during a funeral ceremony for security personnel killed during anti-government protests, in Tehran, Iran, 14 January 2026. (EPA)
Mourners hold anti-US and anti-Israeli placards during a funeral ceremony for security personnel killed during anti-government protests, in Tehran, Iran, 14 January 2026. (EPA)

Diplomats have sought guarantees from Lebanese armed group Hezbollah that it would not take military action if the United ‌States ‌or ‌Israel ⁠carried out on ‌an attack on Iran, a Lebanese source familiar with the group's thinking told ⁠Reuters on Wednesday.

The ‌source said ‍the ‍Iran-backed group was ‍approached through diplomatic channels last week.

Hezbollah did not offer explicit guarantees but has no ⁠plans to act if the strike on Iran is not "existential" for Iran's leadership, the source added.

Arab World

Palestinian Factions Offer Support for Gaza Technocratic Committee

A handout photo made available by Egyptian State Press Office shows Egyptian authorities holding talks with a Hamas delegation and representatives of various Palestinian factions, in Cairo, Egypt, 14 January 2026, to select a technical committee for Gaza. (EPA/Egyptian State Press Office)
A handout photo made available by Egyptian State Press Office shows Egyptian authorities holding talks with a Hamas delegation and representatives of various Palestinian factions, in Cairo, Egypt, 14 January 2026, to select a technical committee for Gaza. (EPA/Egyptian State Press Office)
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Palestinian Factions Offer Support for Gaza Technocratic Committee

A handout photo made available by Egyptian State Press Office shows Egyptian authorities holding talks with a Hamas delegation and representatives of various Palestinian factions, in Cairo, Egypt, 14 January 2026, to select a technical committee for Gaza. (EPA/Egyptian State Press Office)
A handout photo made available by Egyptian State Press Office shows Egyptian authorities holding talks with a Hamas delegation and representatives of various Palestinian factions, in Cairo, Egypt, 14 January 2026, to select a technical committee for Gaza. (EPA/Egyptian State Press Office)

The majority of Palestinian factions and the presidency offered their support for the Palestinian technocratic committee meant to govern Gaza, after mediator Egypt announced on Wednesday that all parties had agreed on its members.

In a statement, Palestinian factions including Hamas and Islamic Jihad said they had agreed "to support the mediators' efforts in forming the Palestinian National Transitional Committee to administer the Gaza Strip, while providing the appropriate environment" for it to begin its work.

The Ramallah-based Palestinian presidency also announced its support in official media, with a source from the office telling AFP the statement "reflects the position of the Fatah movement because President (Mahmoud) Abbas is also the head of Fatah".

Arab World

Syria Moves Military Reinforcements East of Aleppo After Telling Kurds to Withdraw

Military vehicles drive along a road as the last Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters left the Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday, state-run Ekhbariya TV said, following a ceasefire deal that allowed evacuations after days of deadly clashes, in Latakia, Syria, January 14, 2026. (Reuters)
Military vehicles drive along a road as the last Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters left the Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday, state-run Ekhbariya TV said, following a ceasefire deal that allowed evacuations after days of deadly clashes, in Latakia, Syria, January 14, 2026. (Reuters)
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Syria Moves Military Reinforcements East of Aleppo After Telling Kurds to Withdraw

Military vehicles drive along a road as the last Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters left the Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday, state-run Ekhbariya TV said, following a ceasefire deal that allowed evacuations after days of deadly clashes, in Latakia, Syria, January 14, 2026. (Reuters)
Military vehicles drive along a road as the last Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters left the Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday, state-run Ekhbariya TV said, following a ceasefire deal that allowed evacuations after days of deadly clashes, in Latakia, Syria, January 14, 2026. (Reuters)

Syria's army was moving reinforcements east of Aleppo city on Wednesday, a day after it told Kurdish forces to withdraw from the area following deadly clashes last week.

The deployment comes as Syria's government seeks to extend its authority across the country, but progress has stalled on integrating the Kurds' de facto autonomous administration and forces into the central government under a deal reached in March.

The United States, which for years has supported Kurdish fighters but also backs Syria's new authorities, urged all parties to "avoid actions that could further escalate tensions" in a statement by the US military's Central Command chief Admiral Brad Cooper.

On Tuesday, Syrian state television published an army statement with a map declaring a large area east of Aleppo city a "closed military zone" and said "all armed groups in this area must withdraw to east of the Euphrates" River.

The area, controlled by Kurdish forces, extends from near Deir Hafer, around 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Aleppo, to the Euphrates about 30 kilometers further east, as well as towards the south.

State news agency SANA published images on Wednesday showing military reinforcements en route from the coastal province of Latakia, while a military source on the ground, requesting anonymity, said reinforcements were arriving from both Latakia and the Damascus region.

Both sides reported limited skirmishes overnight.

An AFP correspondent on the outskirts of Deir Hafer reported hearing intermittent artillery shelling on Wednesday, which the military source said was due to government targeting of positions belonging to the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

- 'Declaration of war' -

The SDF controls swathes of the country's oil-rich north and northeast, much of which it captured during Syria's civil war and the fight against the ISIS group.

On Monday, Syria accused the SDF of sending reinforcements to Deir Hafer and said it would send its own personnel there in response.

Kurdish forces on Tuesday denied any build-up of their personnel and accused the government of attacking the town, while state television said SDF sniper fire there killed one person.

Cooper urged "a durable diplomatic resolution through dialogue".

Elham Ahmad, a senior official in the Kurdish administration, said that government forces were "preparing themselves for another attack".

"The real intention is a full-scale attack" against Kurdish-held areas, she told an online press conference, accusing the government of having made a "declaration of war" and breaking the March agreement on integrating Kurdish forces.

Syria's government took full control of Aleppo city over the weekend after capturing its Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsud and Achrafieh neighborhoods and evacuating fighters there to Kurdish-controlled areas in the northeast.

Both sides traded blame over who started the violence last week that killed dozens of people and displaced tens of thousands.

- PKK, Türkiye -

On Tuesday in Qamishli, the main Kurdish city in the country's northeast, thousands of people demonstrated against the Aleppo violence, while shops were shut in a general strike.

Some protesters carried Kurdish flags and banners in support of the SDF.

"This government has not honored its commitments towards any Syrians," said cafe owner Joudi Ali.

Other protesters burned portraits of Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, whose country has lauded the Syrian government's Aleppo operation "against terrorist organizations".

Türkiye has long been hostile to the SDF, seeing it as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and a major threat along its southern border.

Last year, the PKK announced an end to its long-running armed struggle against the Turkish state and began destroying its weapons, but Ankara has insisted that the move include armed Kurdish groups in Syria.

On Tuesday, the PKK called the "attack on the Kurdish neighborhoods in Aleppo" an attempt to sabotage peace efforts between it and Ankara.

A day earlier, Ankara's ruling party levelled the same accusation against Kurdish fighters.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 45 civilians and 60 soldiers and fighters from both sides killed in the Aleppo violence.