‘Gates of hell will open’ if hostages not returned: Israel

Benjamin Netanyahu has told parliament Israel is preparing for the next stage of the war amid reports Jerusalem has drafted a ‘Hell Plan’ to ramp up pressure on Hamas.

Palestinians refill on water next to a destroyed mosque at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. Picture: AFP.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Hamas of consequences it “cannot imagine” if the Palestinian Islamist movement did not release the hostages still being held in Gaza.

The remarks were made during a tumultuous evening at Israel’s parliament, where the families of hostages booed Netanyahu, and came as negotiations between Israel and Hamas over the future of a fragile ceasefire in Gaza appeared to stall.

“I tell Hamas: If you do not release our hostages, there will be consequences that you cannot imagine,” Mr Netanyahu told parliament.

Defence Minister Israel Katz later struck a similar tone, saying if the group did not free the hostages, “the gates of Gaza will be locked, and the gates of hell will open”.

“We will return to fighting, and they will face the (army) with forces and methods they have never encountered -- until a decisive victory,” he said in a statement.

Mr Netanyahu has faced pressure from critics in Israel, including family members of hostages, who have blamed him for delays in bringing the captives home.

Scuffles broke out Monday between guards and relatives of hostages at parliament, where the families were calling for a state commission of inquiry into the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that triggered the Gaza war.

On Sunday, Israel blocked aid flowing into Gaza as the first six-week phase of the ceasefire there drew to a close.

The truce had enabled the entry of vital food, shelter and medical assistance after more than 15 months of fighting.

Under the first phase, Gaza militants handed over 25 living hostages and eight bodies in exchange for the release of about 1,800 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

Of the 251 captives taken during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, 58 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military has confirmed are dead.

Israel had announced a truce extension until mid-April that it said United States Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff had proposed.

But Hamas has repeatedly rejected an extension of the first phase, instead favouring a transition to the two remaining stages of the ceasefire agreement, which could bring a permanent end to the war.

Israeli media on Monday reported that Mr Netanyahu planned to exert “maximum pressure” on Hamas to accept an extension of the first phase under Israel’s terms.

Public broadcaster Kan reported that Mr Netanyahu wants to extend the first stage by at least a week, until the arrival of Mr Witkoff in the region.

Citing sources close to Mr Netanyahu, Kan reported the Prime Minister was waiting to see if mediators can persuade Hamas to extend the first phase, failing which he is considering resuming fighting.

Kan said Israel has drafted plans to ramp up pressure on Hamas this week under a scheme dubbed the “Hell Plan”.

The plan includes displacing residents from the northern Gaza Strip to the south and cutting off electricity.

The last resort would be a full return to fighting, this time using heavy US-made bombs recently released by the administration of President Donald Trump, Kan reported.

But the daily newspaper Israel Hayoum said Mr Netanyahu, unlike his far-right allies in government, “wants to exhaust all possibilities of freeing hostages before returning to war”.

Mr Netanyahu told parliament Israel was preparing for the next stage of the war “with President Trump’s support,” describing as “innovative” Mr Trump’s plan to remove Gaza’s residents while the US took over the enclave.

“It is time to give the residents of Gaza the choice to leave it,” Mr Netanyahu said.

Mr Netanyahu also suggested that Israel could target members of Iran’s government, in an attack similar to the exploding pagers used against leaders of Hezbollah.

“We will not allow Iran to possess a nuclear weapon,” he said. “The pager bombings in Lebanon were at the best time and created a turning point that ultimately led to the fall of the Assad regime. We are preparing for the next phase of the battle and we do not need to talk about everything.”

Hamas sidelined in Egypt’s Gaza plan

A plan for Gaza drawn up by Egypt as a counter to Donald Trump’s ambition for the enclave would sideline Hamas and replace it with interim bodies controlled by Arab, Muslim and Western states, Reuters reports.

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened Hamas with “unimaginable consequences” if the remaining hostages weren’t returned, Arab foreign ministers gathered in Cairo on Monday, a day before a leaders’ summit that is expected to discuss the alternative Gaza reconstruction plan.

The Arab ministers held a “preparatory and consultative” session centred on a plan to rebuild the territory without displacing Palestinians, a source at the Arab League said.

The Egyptian vision for Gaza, which is due to be presented at an Arab League summit on Tuesday (local time), does not specify whether the proposal would be implemented before or after any permanent peace deal to end the war triggered by the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks.

Mr Trump’s plan, which envisioned clearing Gaza of its Palestinian inhabitants as the US took control of the strip has sparked anger among Arab nations which have widely rejected his suggestion they take in Gaza residents.

According to Reuters, Cairo’s plan doesn’t tackle critical issues such as who will foot the bill for Gaza’s reconstruction or outline any specific details around how the enclave would be governed.

It also doesn’t explain how an armed group as powerful as Hamas would be pushed aside, but suggests a Governance Assistance Mission to replace the Hamas-run government in Gaza for an unspecified interim period, which would be responsible for humanitarian aid and for kick-starting reconstruction of the enclave.

“There will be no major international funding for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Gaza if Hamas remains the dominant and armed political element on the ground controlling local governance,” the news agency reported from a preamble outlining the draft Egyptian plan’s objectives.

The plan doesn’t specify who would run the governance mission. It said it would “draw on the expertise of Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere to help Gaza recover as quickly as possible”.

It also envisions an International Stabilisation Force drawn primarily from Arab states that would take over the role of providing security from the militant group, with the eventual establishment of a new local police force.

Both security and governance bodies would be “arranged, guided and supervised” by a steering board. The draft said the board would comprise key Arab countries, members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the United States, Britain, the European Union and its member states, and others.

The plan does not detail a central governing role for the Palestinian Authority (PA), which opinion polls show has little support among Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

Nor does it cover who would pay to rebuild Gaza, a bill estimated by the UN at more than $53 billion. Two sources told Reuters that Gulf and Arab states would need to commit at least $20 billion in the initial phase of reconstruction.

Stabbing

In the first fatal attack in Israel since the truce began in January, authorities said a stabbing spree Monday in the northern city of Haifa killed one person, wounded four others and ended with the assailant – a member of Israel’s Arabic-speaking Druze community – dead.

The stabbings took place at a bus and train station in the port city, home to a mixed Jewish and Arab population.

Police identified the assailant as a member of the Druze minority, generally considered supportive of the Israeli state, but did not specify a motive.

In Gaza, the Israeli military said it had struck a “suspicious motorised vessel” off the coast of Khan Yunis in the south, and in a separate incident, opened fire on two suspects who had approached troops.

AFP, Reuters