CAIRO (Dispatches) -- The future of the ceasefire in Gaza, along with the territory’s long-term fate, hung in the balance on Tuesday as U.S. President Trump prepared to meet with King Abdullah II of Jordan amid a public spat between the American leader and Hamas.
Trump envisions taking over Gaza and expelling Palestinians to nearby countries, including Jordan. He has threatened to end American financial support for Jordan if the king refuses to accept that vision.
The dispute is one of several that imperil the fragile truce between Hamas and Israel. 
Hamas warned Monday night that it would delay the release of some captives on Saturday if Israel did not send more aid to Gaza.
Abu Obaida, spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing the Qassam Brigades, said the delay would continue until Israel halted its attacks on Palestinians returning to their homes in Gaza and allowed aid into the enclave at previously-agreed-to levels.
Israel’s war minister, Israel Katz, said he had instructed the military “to prepare at the highest level of alert for any possible scenario in Gaza”.
Former cabinet member Itamar Ben Gvir called for “a massive air and ground offensive on Gaza and a complete halt to humanitarian aid, including electricity, fuel, and water”.
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump said that “all hell will break loose” if Hamas does not release all Israeli captives by Saturday at midday. This demand goes further than the Gaza truce agreement in force since January.
Seemingly emboldened by Trump’s words, Israel’s extremist finance minister Bezalel Smotrich insisted on re-entering the war and capturing Gaza’s land should the ceasefire deal fall apart. “Nothing pains our enemies more than land,” he said.
Smotrich hinted that Trump endorses the idea, adding that they should also cut off the flow of humanitarian aid to the war-torn Palestinian territory.
“I’m telling you that an ultimatum needs to be issued and the gates of hell opened on them - cut off water and electricity, stop humanitarian aid. Gather all Gaza residents into one area, maintain minimal control and remove them to a different future. We have full backing.”
 The ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, which went into force in late January, saw the release of at least 16 Israeli and five Thai captives, in exchange for the freeing of hundreds of Palestinian detainees.
Over the past few days, Trump has repeatedly said that the U.S. plans on taking over the Gaza Strip and expelling the Palestinian population to Egypt and Jordan, without allowing them to return.
His plan was met with praise from most leading Zionist figures, including prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
However, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which advocates for the Israeli captives, said it had turned to the mediating countries for an intervention “that would restore the deal’s implementation” and called on the Zionist regime to “refrain from actions that jeopardize the signed agreement’s implementation”.
While the immediate crisis is likely to be resolved soon, analysts said, another hurdle looms in March, when the ceasefire is set to elapse unless Hamas and Israel negotiate an extension.
“It’s likely that they will reach a compromise before Saturday,” said Ibrahim Dalalsha, director of the Horizon Center, a political research group in Ramallah, in the West Bank. “But this crisis is a prelude for a much bigger crisis that is coming in early March.”
All the major players have made negotiations harder.
Netanyahu has delayed the talks, wary of an extension that would allow Hamas to remain the dominant military force in Gaza.
Hamas, though willing to share control with other Palestinian factions, has given no sign that it will disarm.
And Trump’s pronouncements — including his threats to expel Gaza’s residents — have angered Hamas and amplified the sense of chaos surrounding the negotiations.
Trump has repeatedly called for the United States to occupy Gaza, threatening on Monday to withdraw financial support for Egypt and Jordan if they do not house Palestinians displaced by that effort.
Such a forced migration would destabilize both countries, and King Abdullah was expected to present alternatives to Trump.
Analysts are divided about whether Trump’s idea is serious, but the dispute highlights the growing unpredictability about Gaza’s future.
The current standoff stems in part from Hamas’s announcement that Israel has not upheld its promises for the first phase of the ceasefire. Israel was required to send hundreds of thousands of tents into Gaza, a promise that Hamas says Israel has not kept.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, three Israeli officials and two mediators cited by the New York Times said that Hamas’s claims were accurate.
The more serious issue is the widespread perception that Netanyahu is undermining the negotiations over an extended truce.
Those talks were meant to begin early last week. Instead, Netanyahu delayed sending a team to Qatar, which is mediating talks, until early this week.
Netanyahu has often said that Hamas will not remain in power after the war. And key members of Netanyahu’s governing coalition have expressed a desire to resume the war, despite calls from much of the Israeli public for an extension of the truce to free more captives, even if it leaves the resistance group in power.
Ansarullah leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi said Tuesday Yemen is ready to mount attacks on Israel if it resumes its war on Gaza and does not commit to the ceasefire deal.
Yemeni forces had targeted Israel-linked vessels in the Red Sea in solidarity with Gaza’s Palestinians during Israel’s genocidal bombing of the enclave.
“Our hands are on the trigger and we are ready to immediately escalate against the Israeli enemy if it returns to escalation in the Gaza Strip,” al-Houthi said in a televised speech.