UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Hamas to continue with the planned release of hostages on Tuesday, a day after the Palestinian terrorist group announced its intention to halt the exchange.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Reuters/Brendan McDermo
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Hamas to continue with the planned release of hostages on Tuesday, a day after the Palestinian terrorist group announced its intention to halt the exchange.
"We must avoid at all costs the resumption of hostilities in Gaza that would lead to an immense tragedy," he said in a statement.
Hamas on Monday announced it would stop releasing Israeli hostages until further notice over what it called Israeli violations of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza, raising the risk of reigniting the conflict.
Hamas was to release more Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and other Palestinians held in Israeli detention as had happened over the past three weeks.
An Israeli delegation returned from Doha for talks on the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Monday, amid growing doubts over the Egyptian and Qatari-brokered process to end the war in Gaza.
U.S. President Donald Trump said that Hamas should release all hostages held by the militant group in Gaza by midday Saturday or he would propose cancelling the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and "let hell break out."
Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin
US embassies in Jerusalem, Baghdad and Amman issued security alerts Saturday urging American citizens to exercise "heightened vigilance," as tensions flare between Iran and the United States. Americans were also told to "consider departing, or be prepared to depart should there be escalation."
President Donald Trump said Friday that Israel was "very happy" with an agreement reached by his so-called Board of Peace for the complete disarmament of Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups in Gaza.
Britain has asked Cyprus to extradite a dual British-Azerbaijani national suspected of spying on a British air base on the Mediterranean island and passing his findings to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, London police said on Friday.
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