Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held security consultations Saturday night on the future of the hostage-ceasefire deal after Hamas released three more living male hostages earlier in the day.

Netanyahu wants to expedite the release of six remaining living hostages who are scheduled to be freed the next two Saturdays, according to Hebrew media reports. Channel 13 reported that Israel is aiming to get the six released in the coming days.

Last week, US President Donald Trump suggested that Israel end the ceasefire in Gaza and resume fighting if all remaining hostages were not freed by Saturday, after the Hamas terror group said it was delaying their release.

Contradictory Israeli statements after Trump’s comments threatened a return to war if “our hostages” and “all of them” weren’t released. Another message said nine hostages had to be released “in the coming days,” referring to the number of captives known to be alive who then had yet to be released under the current ceasefire phase.

Trump said he would Israel whatever it chooses to do. Israel, he wrote on his TruthSocial platform, must decide “what they will do about the 12:00 O’CLOCK, TODAY, DEADLINE imposed on the release of ALL HOSTAGES.”

“The United States will back the decision they make!”

Netanyahu’s office on Saturday evening released a vague statement that gave no indication of what Israel will do next.

Netanyahu “appreciates the [US] president’s full support for Israel’s decisions regarding the Gaza Strip going forward,” said the Prime Minister’s Office.

“The Prime Minister will convene the security cabinet as soon as possible to decide on Israel’s next steps.”

Netanyahu “highly appreciates” Trump’s leadership and the ongoing coordination with the United States, said his office.

Netanyahu wants to extend the current first phase of the deal beyond the designated 42 days, which are set to end on March 1, and secure the freedom of more hostages as part of phase one, including more hostages Israel now knows are in poor health, according to Channel 12.

The premier reportedly wants Israel’s negotiators to argue to the Qatari and Egyptian mediators, with US support, that it’s also in the interests of Hamas to extend phase one since this would ensure the current phase of the ceasefire deal remains in place for longer. Netanyahu has refused to allow Israel’s negotiators to engage in talks on the agreement’s second phase, which would see the release of the remaining hostages in exchange for a permanent end to the war.

The prime minister is also hoping to secure what the report said are being called “Ramadan releases” — additional phase one releases of hostages coinciding with next month’s Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The report did not explain why Netanyahu believed Islamist terror groups in Gaza would be willing to do so.

Israeli negotiators, however, warned that unless Israel begins serious negotiations on phase two, which were required under the deal to start almost two weeks ago, it risks jeopardizing the rest of the scheduled phase one releases.

Hamas said on Saturday that the United States must ensure that Israel abides by the agreement to secure the release of hostages still held in the Palestinian territory.

“The United States must compel the occupation to adhere to the agreement if it truly cares about the prisoners’ lives,” said Hazem Qassem, a spokesman for Hamas.

The sixth release of hostages during the ongoing ceasefire came hours before US Secretary of State Marco Rubio landed in Israel ahead of his meetings on Sunday in Jerusalem with Israeli leaders. He is on his first Middle East trip as America’s top diplomat.

Rubio indicated last week that renewed fighting in Gaza would not ultimately end the threat that Hamas poses to Israel, just two days after he appeared to back a resumption of the war.

“Someone has to confront [Hamas]. Who’s that going to be? It’s not going to be American soldiers. If the countries in the region can’t figure that piece out, then Israel is going to have to do it, and then we’re back to where we’ve been, so that doesn’t solve the problem,” Rubio said in an interview with conservative radio show hosts Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.

Also last week, Rubio told NewsNation that “Hamas continues to use networks to smuggle in weaponry and aid for themselves to reconstitute themselves.”

“Israel can’t allow that to happen. You can’t allow Hamas to use the ceasefire to rebuild itself and recover strength,” he said. “It’s a ceasefire, but it’s not a stupid ceasefire.”

Rubio is scheduled to meet Netanyahu at 10 a.m. Sunday in his office, after which the two will give statements.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and other senior Israeli officials will join the meeting at 11:15 a.m. Sa’ar and Rubio will hold a bilateral meeting at 1:00 p.m., and tour Yad Vashem together afterward.

Rubio is also scheduled to meet Opposition Leader Yair Lapid at 4:15 p.m. at the David Citadel Hotel in Jerusalem.

Rubio, who departed the US Thursday evening,  said he hopes to discuss ideas about the future of Gaza during his stops in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, after talks in Washington with Egypt and Jordan.