Families and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas gather to demand a deal that will bring back all the hostages held in Gaza, outside a meeting between hostage representatives and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in Jerusalem, Jan. 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad

The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas announced on Monday that it would stop releasing Israeli hostages until further notice over alleged violations of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release deal, prompting outrage in Israel.

“The handover of the Zionist prisoners who were scheduled to be released next Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025, will be postponed until further notice and until the occupation commits to and compensates for the entitlements of the past weeks retroactively,” Abu Obeida, a spokesman, for Hamas’s military wing, said in a statement.

“We affirm our commitment to the terms of the agreement as long as the occupation commits to them,” he added.

Hamas accused Israel of violating the ceasefire by “delaying the return of displaced people to the northern Gaza Strip, targeting them with shelling and gunfire in various areas of the Gaza Strip, and not allowing relief supplies of all kinds to enter as agreed upon, while the resistance has implemented all its obligations.”

Israeli officials have denied such allegations.

The ceasefire has largely held since its implementation on Jan. 19, and according to aid agencies, the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza has increased. Israel said last week that 12,600 trucks of aid had arrived in Gaza since the beginning of the deal.

After Hamas’s announcement on Monday, Israelis expressed outrage, with the families of the hostages pleading for help.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said that it has reached out to all countries mediating the ceasefire agreement, demanding “rapid assistance in finding an immediate and effective solution to restore the implementation of the deal.”

“We call on the Israeli government to refrain from actions that endanger the execution of the signed agreement and to ensure its continuation, securing the return of our 76 brothers and sisters,” the statement continued. “The hostages are out of time, and they all must be rescued from this nightmare urgently.”

Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Hamas’s announcement was a “complete violation of the ceasefire agreement and the deal to release the hostages.”

Katz added that he instructed the Israeli military to “prepare at the highest level of alert for any possible scenario in Gaza,” vowing, “We will not allow a return to the reality of Oct. 7.”

Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists started the war in Gaza when they murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages during their invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in the neighboring enclave. The conflict raged for nearly 16 months until both sides agreed to last month’s ceasefire and hostage-release deal, the first phase of which is set to last six weeks.

Hamas’s decision to postpone the next scheduled release of hostages came after leaders around the world decried the emaciated state of the three Israelis freed this past weekend. Some of the released hostages and their families have recounted the abuse and torture they suffered while in captivity.

The terrorist group’s announcement on Monday also followed Israel late last month temporarily delaying the release of 110 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for three Israeli hostages over the chaotic mobbing of the hostages at a handover point in Gaza.

So far, 16 of the 33 hostages to be released in the first six-week phase of the deal have come home, as well as five Thai hostages who were working as agricultural laborers in Israel during Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught.

As of Sunday, 73 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 individuals confirmed dead by the Israeli military.