HAMAS has condemned threats made by US President Donald Trump, warning that his remarks will embolden Israel to disregard the fragile ceasefire in Gaza.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qasim stated on Thursday that Trump’s so-called ‘last warning’ would push Israel to violate the terms of the ceasefire, which has been in place since 19 January.
‘These threats complicate matters regarding the ceasefire agreement and encourage the occupation to avoid implementing its terms,’ Qasim said.
He urged the United States — Israel’s primary financial and military backer — to pressure the regime into proceeding to the ceasefire’s second phase, which is seen as a step towards a lasting truce.
Trump’s threats came just hours earlier when he declared there would be ‘hell to pay’ if Hamas did not immediately release all remaining captives.
In response, Hamas dismissed the remarks as ‘worthless’, reiterating that no Israeli captives would be freed without a negotiated agreement.
Senior Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri stated that if threats were to be issued, they should be directed at those obstructing the ceasefire’s implementation.
He emphasised that such statements ‘fail to intimidate’ the resistance and instead serve only to ‘further complicate the situation’.
He reaffirmed Hamas’s commitment to the agreement, stating that the movement ‘remains determined to continue on this path’.
The ceasefire’s first phase ended last weekend after six weeks of relative calm, during which Israeli captives were exchanged for Palestinian prisoners.
While Israel has pushed to extend this phase until mid-April, Hamas has insisted on advancing to the second phase, which is expected to lead to a lasting ceasefire.
In defiance of the agreement, Israel has escalated its rhetoric and halted the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, prompting widespread international condemnation.
Several nations and humanitarian organisations have warned against using aid as a ‘political tool’ to pressure Palestinians.
Trump’s track record of incendiary remarks against Palestinians has fuelled further tensions.
Earlier in the week, Trump threatened the people of Gaza alongside Hamas in what he calls a ‘last warning’ to release the remaining Israeli hostages.
Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform: ‘Also, to the People of Gaza: A beautiful future awaits, but not if you hold hostages. If you do, you are DEAD! Make a SMART decision.
‘Release all of the hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is OVER for you.
‘I am sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job. Not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don’t do as I say.’
In early February, he proposed a scheme to forcibly displace Palestinians from Gaza to neighbouring countries — a plan he unveiled during a White House press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The proposal was met with global condemnation, with West Asian leaders and governments worldwide rejecting it outright.
Meanwhile, Israeli Minister of Military Affairs Israel Katz has ordered the military to prepare a strategy to facilitate the ‘voluntary departure’ of Palestinians from Gaza — an act widely viewed as an attempt at ethnic cleansing.
Israeli media has also reported that the army plans to resume its assault on Gaza within the next 10 days, raising fears of renewed mass atrocities.
Despite Netanyahu’s push for continued war, a recent survey has shown that an overwhelming majority of Israelis support moving to the second phase of the ceasefire agreement and reject the government’s plans to escalate attacks on Gaza.
Mass surveillance of Palestinians
A NEWLY uncovered investigation has revealed that Israel’s electronic espionage unit, Unit 8200, has developed an artificial intelligence system akin to ChatGPT, designed for mass surveillance of Palestinians.
The AI model has been trained using vast amounts of intercepted communications, collected through Israel’s sweeping intelligence operations across the occupied Palestinian territories.
‘We tried to create the largest dataset possible (and) collect all the data … Israel has ever had in Arabic,’ said Chaked Roger Joseph Sayedoff, a former official involved in the project, during a military AI conference in Tel Aviv last year.
He described the volume of information required for the system’s training as ‘psychotic amounts’ of data.
Sources familiar with the project indicated that the tool functions like a sophisticated chatbot capable of answering queries about individuals and analysing Israel’s extensive surveillance data.
‘AI amplifies power,’ one source stated.
‘It’s not just about preventing shooting attacks; I can track human rights activists, monitor Palestinian construction in Area C (of the occupied West Bank). I have more tools to know what every person in the West Bank is doing.’
Zach Campbell, a senior surveillance researcher at Human Rights Watch, described the practice as ‘invasive and incompatible with human rights’.
He stressed that, as an occupying force, Israel is obligated under international law to uphold Palestinians’ right to privacy.
‘We’re talking about highly personal data taken from people who are not suspected of a crime, being used to train a tool that could then help establish suspicion,’ he said.
