Israel is ready to proceed with the second phase of the Gaza cease-fire dea — but only if Hamas releases more of its remaining hostages, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said.
Following the end of the first phase of the ceasefire deal on Saturday, Saar said talks for phase two — which seeks to establish the terms for permanent peace in Gaza — can begin if Hamas agrees to widen the scope of the hostage exchange.
“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.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar addresses a press conference after a meeting at the EU headquarters on the sidelines of the EU’s foreign affairs council, in Brussels on February 24, 2025. AFP via Getty Images
A Hamas hostage video showing brothers Iair and Eitan Horn is screened during a demonstration calling for the release of all hostages on March 1, 2025, in Tel Aviv, Israel. Getty Images“But in order to extend the time or the framework, we need an agreement to release more hostages.”
Under the terms of the original cease-fire deal, phase two would have seen Hamas release all the remaining living hostages in Gaza, including New Jersey native Edan Alexander.
An estimated 27 living hostages are still being held in the Gaza strip, along with the bodies of 32 hostages who were killed in the Palestinian enclave.
Saar did not specify how many more hostages he wanted to see liberated from captivity.
The bodies of the dead hostages were meant to be releaed as part of phase three of the cease-fire deal, which lays the groundwork for the future of Gaza.
Hamas has previously said it was willing to release all the living hostages at once to move phase two along, which also calls for the Israel Defense Forces’ full withdrawal from Gaza.
Saar also did not confirm or deny Israeli media reports that the Jewish state has set a 10-day deadline to reach an agreement or resume the fighting.
“If we want to do it, we will do it,” the foreign minister said.
Aid trucks move along a road after crossing into Gaza, following a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, January 25, 2025. REUTERSSaar stressed that there was “no automaticity” between the stages, firing back against Hamas’ claims that Israel breached the cease-fire agreement by not moving ahead to phase two.
Israeli officials are currently backing a plan to extend the current cease-fire through the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began on Saturday, until the Jewish Passover holiday in April.
Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s special Mideast envoy, is due to visit the region in the next few days to discuss extending the cease-fire or moving ahead of phase two, the State Department said on Monday.
With Post wire
