The families of the Israeli prisoners held in the Gaza Strip confirmed on Saturday that they will not allow Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to obstruct the implementation of the second phase of the prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.

She stressed that any disruption of this stage would be due to Netanyahu's political and personal interests.

These statements came during a press conference organized by the prisoners' families in front of the Israeli Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv.

During the conference, a relative of the Israeli prisoners in Gaza said: “We will not allow Netanyahu to obstruct the completion of the second stage of the deal (the ceasefire agreement in Gaza and the prisoner exchange with Hamas) because of his political and personal calculations. The lives of the prisoners must not be held hostage to the interests of the government.”

He added: "We demand that the government immediately send the negotiating delegation and grant it all the necessary powers to complete the second phase of the deal without procrastination or delay."

He stressed that "returning to war in Gaza is not justified, and cannot be used as an excuse to thwart the deal," referring to the escalation demanded by some hardline ministers in the Israeli government.

For his part, another relative of one of the Israeli prisoners in Gaza said: “The extremist ministers in the government are trying to obstruct the implementation of the agreement, headed by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich,” referring to the latter’s position, which opposes the completion of the deal and calls for the resumption of military operations in Gaza.

During the conference, the families called on all Israelis to "participate in demonstrations supporting the implementation of all stages of the exchange deal, to pressure the government to prevent any attempt to freeze or thwart the agreement."

Amid the escalating controversy over the future of the agreement, Netanyahu will hold a security meeting on Saturday evening, after the expiration of the deadline proposed by US President Donald Trump last week, which called for the resumption of the ceasefire in Gaza if all Israeli prisoners held by Palestinian factions were not released.

Earlier on Saturday, Trump announced that his administration would abide by any decision taken by Tel Aviv regarding the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, after Hamas released three Israeli prisoners, including an American citizen.

"Israel will now have to decide what to do about the 12:00 PM deadline today to release all prisoners," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

On Monday, Trump said: “The ceasefire must be cancelled if all prisoners in Gaza are not released by 12:00 noon on Saturday, and if that is not done, all hell will break loose.”

As part of implementing the first phase of the agreement, the Al-Qassam Brigades and the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, handed over three Israeli prisoners to the International Committee of the Red Cross on Saturday, including two who hold American and Russian citizenship.

It is worth noting that the ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement entered into force on January 19, and it is an agreement that includes three stages, each lasting 42 days. According to the terms of the agreement, each stage is negotiated separately before moving to the next stage, with the mediation of Egypt and Qatar, and with the support of the United States.