UN patrol vehicle damaged by gunfire from Israeli military in southern Lebanon, peacekeeping force says.

Israel military chief says will immediately return to striking in Gaza Strip once ceasefire ends.

 

 GAZA/JERUSALEM  -  Hamas said Saturday they are delaying the handover of Israeli hostages on the sec­ond day of truce until Israel commits to letting aid lor­ries into northern Gaza. 

Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades, also accused Israel of not follow­ing the terms of the agree­ment for hostage releases.

Hamas issued a statement saying they were delaying the release of hostages un­til the “terms of agreement” were agreed to by Israel re­lating to aid and the release of Palestinian prisoners. 

“The Al-Qassam Brigades decide to delay the release of the second batch of pris­oners until the occupation adheres to the terms of the agreement related to the en­try of relief trucks into the northern Gaza Strip, and due to the failure to adhere to the agreed-upon standards for releasing prisoners,” the military wing of Hamas said on Telegram.

A senior Hamas official says a second handover of Israeli hostages was being delayed due to Israeli vio­lations of the pause agree­ment reached between the two sides. The official also claimed Israel had stopped 97 aid trucks from reaching northern Gaza, and also flew drones over southern Gaza. 

Israel denies breaking the terms of a Qatar-brokered agreement - which brought in a four-day halt in hos­tilities in exchange for the release of hostages in Gaza - and the release of Pales­tinians in Israeli prisons. A group of up to 14 hostages was expected to be released later Saturday. Hamas of­ficial, speaking to the BBC, also said that Israel made significant changes to the agreed list of Palestinian prisoners to be released. He also claimed that the Israel Defense Forces killed two Palestinians in Beit Hanoun in Gaza, in an area where Palestinians are allowed to move.

On the other hand, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi says the military will immediately return to strik­ing in the Gaza Strip once the ceasefire with Hamas ends. Halevi, speaking to sol­diers, says the ceasefire and hostage deal would not have happened without the IDF’s pressure on Hamas. “We do not intend, do not want, and are not ready to stop this ef­fort before we return all the hostages... it is our moral duty to bring them back,” he says. Halevi says the IDF will use the pause in fighting to “study, to better prepare our abilities and also to rest a little.” “And we will return immediately at the end of the ceasefire to attacking Gaza, to maneuver in Gaza. We will do it to dismantle Hamas and also to create great pressure to return as quickly as possible and as many hostages as possible, down to the last of them,” he says. “We have an obligation to fight and also to risk our lives so that [Israeli citizens] can re­turn to live in safety, and we have hostages that we will do everything to bring them home,” Halevi adds.

Seventy trucks carrying food, water, fuel and medical supplies have en­tered Gaza through the Rafah cross­ing on the second day of the agreed temporary truce, according to a bor­der crossing spokesperson Saturday.

The aid includes three trucks con­taining 150,000 liters of fuel, and four trucks with natural gas, Hesham Edwan said. Edwan added there is an ongoing effort for more trucks to en­ter the Gaza Strip today, to meet the 200 trucks quota agreed upon in the humanitarian deal. 

The United Nations said Friday 137 trucks carrying aid, including 129,000 liters of fuel and four trucks of gas, were off-loaded in Gaza on the first day of the pause, marking the largest humanitarian convoy to enter the strip since October 7. 

Gunfire from Israeli military in southern Lebanon A United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) vehicle was dam­aged after its patrol was hit by Israel Defense Forces gunfire, UNIFIL said Saturday. The patrol was hit around 12 p.m. local time (5 a.m. ET) in the area of Aytaroun, in southern Leba­non, UNIFIL wrote in a post on X, for­merly known as Twitter. “This incident occurred during a period of relative calm along the Blue Line,” it said, add­ing that no peacekeepers were injured. 

The force’s head of mission and force commander, Maj. Gen. Arolodo Lázaro Sáenz, on Friday urged those exchanging fire along the Blue Line to halt “this cycle of violence, strong­ly reminding everyone that any fur­ther escalation could have devastat­ing consequences,” UNIFIL said. 

17 injured Palestinians have en­tered Egypt Seventeen injured Palestinians have entered Egypt through the Rafah bor­der crossing Saturday, an Egyptian government official told CNN. The of­ficial added that 340 aid trucks en­tered the crossing from the Egyptian side, but have so far not made it to the Gaza side as they must be searched by Israel beforehand. The aid trucks in­cluded seven fuel trucks and four gas trucks, per the official. Meanwhile, Is­rael’s Coordinator of Government Ac­tivities in the Territories COGAT says Saturday morning, “four tanks of fuel and four tanks of cooking gas were transferred from Egypt to UN human­itarian aid organizations in the south­ern Gaza Strip via the Rafah Crossing.”