Israel to raise military readiness after suspension of Hamas hostage release

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) were instructed to increase combat readiness and ensure its "maximum level" after the Palestinian Hamas movement refused to hand over hostages on time. The Times of Israel reported this on February 10, citing the country's Defense Minister Yisrael Katz.

"I instructed the IDF to increase combat readiness for any development in Gaza and to protect Israeli population centers," Katz said.

He also called the actions of the Palestinian group a direct violation of the ceasefire agreement.

"Hamas always takes into account the requests of the Russian side"

Musa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of the political bureau of the Palestinian movement, on the fate of Russian citizens in captivity in Gaza, Moscow's role in the Middle East and Israel's violations of the deal.

Earlier in the day it became known that Hamas decided to postpone the release of Israeli hostages, scheduled for next Saturday, February 15, because of Israel's failure to comply with the terms of the ceasefire agreement. Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz later commented on the Hamas announcement, saying it was "a complete violation of the ceasefire agreement and the hostage release deal."

On February 8, the IDF reported that Hamas had released and handed over three hostages to Israel. The three freed men were handed over by the Red Cross to the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip.

Russian Alexander Trufanov still remains among the movement's hostages. Earlier, on February 4, Hamas deputy politburo chief Musa Abu Marzouk told Izvestia that Trufanov is fine and will be released soon.

On January 19, the first phase of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect. During this phase of the deal, which will last 42 days, 33 Israeli hostages and about 1.9 thousand Palestinians are to be released. On the same day, the movement released three hostages in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners, and on January 26, four military girls were handed over to the Red Cross. They were subsequently flown back to their homeland.

The situation in the Middle East escalated on the morning of October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a massive rocket attack from the Gaza Strip into Israel. On the same day, Israel began retaliatory strikes.