Hamas announced Thursday that it would proceed with the planned release of Israeli hostages, seemingly defusing a dispute that had put the Gaza cease-fire at risk.
The Palestinian resistance group said Egyptian and Qatari mediators have affirmed that they will work to "remove all hurdles," and that it would implement the cease-fire deal.
The 42-day cease-fire has appeared close to failure this week amid accusations on both sides of violations to the agreement sealed last month.
Hamas said it did not want the deal to collapse, though it rejected what it called the "language of threats and intimidation" from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump. They have said the cease-fire should be cancelled if the hostages are not released.
"Accordingly, Hamas reaffirms its commitment to implementing the agreement as signed, including the exchange of prisoners according to the specified timeline," Hamas said in a statement.
Hamas, whose Gaza chief leader Khalil al-Hayya is visiting Cairo for talks with Egyptian security officials, also said both Egyptian and Qatari mediators would press on with efforts "to remove obstacles and close gaps."
This week Hamas accused Israel of failing to respect stipulations calling for a massive increase in aid deliveries and had said it would not hand over three hostages due to be released Saturday until the issue was resolved.
In response, Netanyahu ordered reserves to be called up and threatened to resume combat operations that have been paused for almost a month unless the hostages were returned.
Israeli Minister Avi Dichter, a member of Netanyahu's security cabinet, told Israeli public radio Thursday that he did not believe Hamas would be able to get out of the agreement.
"There's a deal, they won't be able to give anything less than what is in the deal," he said. "I don't believe that Hamas can behave otherwise."
Egyptian security sources told Reuters they expected heavy construction equipment to enter Thursday and if that happened then Hamas would release hostages on Saturday.
The standoff between Israel and Hamas has threatened to reignite their conflict, which has devastated Gaza and taken the Middle East to the brink of a wider regional war.
Egyptian and Qatari officials have been working to avoid a breakdown and a Palestinian official close to the mediation effort said both sides had agreed to go ahead with the cease-fire and the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
The talks in Cairo have focused on issues such as Israel's allowing the entry of mobile homes, tents, medical and fuel supplies, and heavy machinery needed for the removal of rubble, Hamas said.
Salama Marouf, head of the Hamas-run government media office in Gaza, told Reuters only 73,000 of the required 200,000 tents had arrived in the enclave, while no mobile homes had been permitted so far.
COGAT, the Israeli military agency overseeing aid deliveries into Gaza, said 400,000 tents had so far been allowed in, while countries meant to supply mobile homes had not yet sent them.
International aid officials confirmed that aid was coming in despite considerable logistical problems, though they cautioned that far more was needed.
"We have seen improvement in some ways, but certainly, the response is nowhere near enough to meet the needs of so many people who face so much destruction and loss," said Shaina Low, an official from the Norwegian Refugee Council based in the Jordanian capital Amman.
She said shelter materials were going in, despite Israeli restrictions on so-called "dual use" materials, which could also be used for military purposes.
Adding to doubts this week about the cease-fire deal has been hostile reaction in the Arab world to Trump's comments that Palestinians should be moved from Gaza to allow it to be developed as a waterfront property under U.S. control.
Under the cease-fire, Hamas has so far released 16 Israeli hostages from an initial group of 33 children, women and older men agreed to be exchanged for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in the first stage of a multi-phase deal.
Hamas also freed five Thai hostages in an unscheduled release.
Negotiations on a second phase of the agreement, which mediators had hoped would agree the release of the remaining hostages as well as the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, were supposed to be already underway in Doha but an Israeli team returned home Monday, two days after arriving.
The threat to cancel the 42-day cease-fire that formed the basis of the agreement has drawn thousands of Israeli protesters onto the streets this week, calling on the government to stick with the deal in order to bring the remaining hostages home.
The war in Gaza was triggered by the the Hamas incursion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which caused around 1,200 deaths and saw more than 250 taken as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel's genocidal war, in response, killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza health officials.
