Israel reluctant to break ceasefire before release of 6 hostages Saturday, 2nd phase in doubt

Following the announcement by the IDF and Israeli officials that the body of Shiri Bibas was not returned to Israel in the hostage remains release on Thursday, the government is trying to decide how to proceed. 

Israeli officials were quick to denounce Hamas for returning the wrong body, calling it a breach of the ceasefire agreement. On Friday morning, Hamas released a statement acknowledging the error, claiming that members of the terror group who had been holding Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir, made a mistake while exhuming bodies from the rubble of a building where they had been held. 

“We have received the occupation's allegations and claims from our mediator brothers, and we will examine these claims with complete seriousness, and we will announce the results clearly,” Hamas said in a statement. “We also point out the possibility of an error or overlap in the bodies, resulting from the occupation targeting and bombing the place where the family was with other Palestinians.” 

Additionally, Hamas promised to carry out a search for Shiri’s remains, and asked Israel to return the remains which had been mistakenly passed over. 

The comments appeared to contradict previous statements, in which the Islamic terror group claimed that the Bibas family was carefully held in accordance with Islamic law, and that even after their deaths, which Hamas blames on an Israeli airstrike, the bodies of the three were carefully kept in accordance with Islamic law. 

The examination of the returned bodies showed that the three Israeli captives were murdered by their captors, the Israeli government said, and not in an IAF airstrike. 

However, the Israeli government appears set on securing the Saturday release of the final six living hostages from the first phase of the hostage-ceasefire agreement. Israel is expected to release 800 Palestinian prisoners over the weekend, including terrorists with blood on their hands. The list of those released includes 445 Gaza residents who were arrested after October 7, 51 life prisoners, 59 terrorists with long prison sentences, 47 prisoners released in the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange deal and re-arrested, and 200 women and minors. 

The Prime Minister's Office confirmed earlier this week (Tuesday) that all the surviving hostages from the first phase of the hostage-ceasefire deal will be released this coming Saturday. 

In the meantime, following spectacle on Thursday, and the attempted bus bombing attack, the defense establishment is in serious discussions with the political leadership regarding how to proceed following the Saturday hostage release. 

While the bus bombings were carried out by terrorists in Judea and Samaria, Hamas claimed responsibility for the attempt. Hamas has also threatened that any resumption of hostilities will lead to the death of the remaining hostages. 

The IDF is reportedly making preparations in case the political echelon decides to resume fighting. However, military officials expressed their concern that doing so could endanger the hostages. 

"We don't want the hostages to be hit by our fire,” a military source told Maariv. “Therefore, it requires us, as in previous moves, to impose restrictions on areas where we will not operate or operate with a smaller and more limited intensity.” 

However, despite the desire to secure the hostage release on Saturday, Netanyahu promised that Hamas would pay a heavy price for violating the agreement. 

“We will ensure that Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and evil violation of the agreement," Netanyahu said, and even pledged revenge. 

“The sacred memory of Oded Lipshitz and Ariel and Kfir Bibas will be forever enshrined in the heart of the nation. May God avenge their blood. We will also avenge ourselves.” 

Israeli politicians, especially former National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and his political ally, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have called for a resumption of fighting against Hamas rather than moving to phase two of the agreement. Smotrich even threatened to resign from the government if the cabinet votes to move forward with the second phase. 

The Tikvah (Hope) Forum of Kidnapped Families, a right-wing hostage forum, called for the government to deliver an ultimatum to Hamas demanding the release of all remaining hostages at once, as President Donald Trump called for earlier this month.

"Only the release of all together in the face of a threatening ultimatum can save the lives of the hostages while maintaining Israel's security," the group said in a statement. "The current model in which Hamas blackmails us with increasing demands and repeated violations endangers security and will increase the cost of human lives in the immediate term, as the bus attack proved. Therefore, we demand that the Israeli government put an end to the blackmail and demand the 6 kidnapped people plus all the remaining kidnapped people, immediately by a deadline, and before they all return, no terrorists will be released at all."

U.S. officials have appeared to back a decision by Israel to return to war, even as they continue to push for the second phase to be completed. 

Adam Boehler, who serves as the United States envoy for hostages, called the release of an unidentified body in place of Shiri “horrific,” and warned that Hamas will face consequences. 

“If I were them, I’d release everybody or they are going to face total annihilation,” Boehler told CNN on Thursday. 

On Thursday, U.S. Secretary Of State Marco Rubio said that if Hamas were next to the U.S. and had attacked, “we would wipe them out.”