Israel orders beefed up troops around Gaza as ceasefire shows signs of faltering

JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli official says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the army to beef up troops in and around the Gaza Strip after Hamas threatened to call off a scheduled hostage release on Saturday.

The official said Netanyahu also ordered officials “to prepare for every scenario if Hamas doesn’t release our hostages this Saturday.”

The preparation plans come after Netanyahu met with his Security Cabinet for four hours on Tuesday to discuss Hamas’ threat, which has put the fragile ceasefire agreement in danger.

Under the ceasefire, Hamas has released 21 hostages in a series of exchanges for Palestinian prisoners. But it said Monday it was delaying the next release of three more hostages after accusing Israel of failing to allow enough aid into Gaza under the deal.

President Donald Trump has said Israel should cancel the entire ceasefire if all of the roughly 70 hostages held by Hamas aren’t freed by Saturday.

The Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a closed-door meeting, was not clear if Netanyahu’s order referred to all hostages, or the three scheduled for release on Saturday.