Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Thursday that it was committed to carrying out the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza under a timeline set out in a cease-fire deal for the territory.

"Hamas confirms continuation in implementing the agreement per what was signed, including the exchange of prisoners according to the specified timetable," Hamas said in a statement. 

It added that talks being held this week in Cairo aimed at overcoming an impasse in implementing the truce deal were "positive."

A fragile truce in Gaza, which came into effect on Jan. 19, has come under increasing strain. 

Hamas announced on Monday it would indefinitely postpone the next hostage-prisoner exchange expected on Saturday. The group said it was delaying the release of hostages "until further notice" because of a series of violations of the cease-fire deal by Israel.

Following the announcement, U.S. President Donald Trump said "all hell" would break loose and he would call for the deal's cancellation if the hostages weren't released on Saturday.

Israel has vowed to restart the war in Gaza, already devastated by 15 months of fighting, if the hostage release does not go ahead as planned.

Mediators Qatar and Egypt have been pushing to salvage the cease-fire agreement with Hamas announcing on Wednesday that its chief negotiator was engaged in talks in the Egyptian capital Cairo.

In the first 42-day phase of the cease-fire deal between Hamas and Israel, 33 Israeli hostages were to be released in exchange for around 1,900 mostly Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails.

On Saturday, three Israeli hostages and 183 Palestinian prisoners were freed in the fifth hostage-prisoner exchange.

With their return, 73 out of 251 hostages taken during Hamas' unprecedented Oct. 7 attack remain in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military says are dead.