On February 13, 2025, Hamas said it would continue releasing hostages under the Gaza ceasefire and prisoner-exchange deal with Israel after first threatening to delay the next transfer. CBS News reported that the group said it would adhere to the ongoing ceasefire and proceed with the next scheduled exchange of three Israeli hostages for dozens of Palestinian prisoners.
The statement mattered because the deal had already become a fragile test of whether the truce could hold. According to the report, Hamas had accused Israel days earlier of violating the agreement and said it would delay the next release. It then reversed course and confirmed continuation “in accordance with what was signed.” That change did not remove the underlying dispute, but it did keep the ceasefire alive for the moment.
Under the terms described in the report, the current exchange was set for Saturday and included three more Israeli hostages along with dozens of Palestinian prisoners. The broader first phase of the deal was supposed to see 33 Israeli hostages released in return for thousands of Palestinian prisoners. So far, 21 hostages had been freed, including American-Israeli dual national Keith Siegel.
The source also shows how much pressure surrounded the negotiations. Hamas said it had spoken to mediators in Egypt and Qatar about the need to bring in tents, heavy equipment, medical supplies and fuel, and to keep humanitarian aid flowing. That detail is important because it explains why the ceasefire was vulnerable to complaint: the deal was not only about hostage releases, but also about access, relief and the conditions people inside Gaza were living under.
The Israel Defense Forces said it had detected a rocket launch inside Gaza and struck the launcher, but said the weapon fell within Palestinian territory. The report adds that the IDF remained committed to fully implementing the terms of the agreement. That combination of claims and counterclaims illustrates the tense atmosphere around every exchange. Even when the ceasefire remains in force, both sides continue to accuse each other of breaching it.
The political backdrop was also unusually sharp. President Trump had warned Hamas that if the remaining hostages were not released, “all hell is going to break loose,” while Israel’s defense minister warned that renewed fighting would not end without Hamas’ defeat and the release of all hostages. The report says those remarks fueled backlash and raised the stakes around the next exchange.
The ceasefire itself had already stopped 15 months of war sparked by Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel. Because of that history, each hostage release now has value beyond the immediate prisoner swap. It is also a signal that the fragile system of mediation, aid delivery and battlefield restraint is still functioning. Hamas’ decision to go ahead with the release did not resolve the conflict, but it did prevent a breakdown at a moment when even a short delay could have derailed the truce.
The reversal also showed how dependent the truce remained on constant mediator pressure. A dispute over aid, a battlefield incident and a threat to stop releases all converged on the same timetable, and the agreement survived only because none of the parties crossed the point of no return.
