Israel has stopped entry of all goods and supplies in the Gaza Undressing on Sunday and warned against the “additional consequences” if Hamas Do not accept a new proposal to extend a fragile ceasefire.
Hamas accused Israel of having tried to derail the existing ceasefire agreement and said that its decision to reduce aid was “a cheap extortion, a war crime and a blatant attack” against the break, which took place in January after more than a year of negotiations. The two parties did not stop saying that the ceasefire was over.
The first phase of the ceasefire, which included an increase in humanitarian assistance, expired on Saturday. The two parties have not yet negotiated the second phase, in which Hamas was to release dozens of remaining hostages in exchange for an Israeli judgment and a sustainable ceasefire.
Egypt, which served as a key mediator between Israel and Hamas, condemned the closure and accused Israel of using “famine as a weapon”. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Badr Abdelatty, called for the immediate implementation of phase 2 of the existing ceasefire agreement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that there is by the virtue of existing agreements, Israel could resume fighting after the first phase if he thought that negotiations were ineffective. He said that the ceasefire would only continue if Hamas continued to release hostages, telling his office that “there will be no free lunches”. He said that Israel was “complete coordinated” with President Donald Trump’s administration.
There was no immediate comment from the United States on the proposal announced by Israel or its decision to cut the aid.
Hundreds of aid trucks have entered Gaza daily since the ceasefire started on January 19. But the residents said that prices doubled on Sunday when the word of closure spread and people rushed to get their supplies.
“Everyone is worried,” said Sayed al-Dairi, a man living in Gaza City. “It’s not a life.”
Fayza Nassar, a woman living in the urban refugee camp strongly destroyed by Jabaliya, said that the exacerbated closure of already disastrous living conditions.
“There will be famine and chaos,” she said. “The closure of the crossings is an odious crime.”
Israel says it makes us save
Israel said that the new proposal, which, she said, came from the sending of the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, called to extend the ceasefire through Ramadan-the sacred Muslim month that started this weekend-and the Jewish holidays of Pâque, which ends on April 20.
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Under this proposal, Hamas would release half of the hostages on the first day and the rest when an agreement will be concluded on a permanent ceasefire, said Netanyahu.
Hamas warned that any attempt to delay or cancel the cease-fire agreement would have “humanitarian consequences” for hostages and would have reiterated that the only way to release them was to implement the existing agreement, which did not specify a calendar to release the remaining captives.
Hamas said it was willing to release the hostages both in phase 2, but only in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
An Egyptian official said Hamas and Egypt would not accept a new proposal to return the remaining hostages without ending the conflict. The official noted that the agreement had called both parties to start negotiations during phase 2 in early February.
The manager, who was not allowed in short the media and spoke under the cover of anonymity, said the mediators were trying to resolve the dispute.
The ceasefire was spoiled by disputes
In the first phase of six weeks of the ceasefire, Hamas released 25 Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight others in exchange for the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Israeli forces have withdrawn from most of Gaza and Israel has enabled a wave of humanitarian aid to enter.
But the first phase was spoiled by repeated disputes, each side accusing the other of the violations.
Israeli strikes killed dozens of Palestinians who, according to the soldiers, had approached his forces or entered areas in violation of the truce. Israel had an air strike on the Palestinians who, according to him, planted an explosive device on Sunday in the north of Gaza near the border. The Ministry of Health managed by Gaza said that two men had been killed in the strike and that Israeli fire killed two other people elsewhere.
Hamas paraded captives – some of which were emaciated – before crowds in public glasses which, according to Israel and the United Nations, are cruel and degrading. He first returned the bad set of remains instead of those of a mother who was killed in captivity with her two young children.
Hamas said that the suspension of aid of Israel was another violation, saying that the ceasefire and the aid deliveries were to continue during the negotiations during phase 2.
Israel has been accused of blocked aid throughout the conflict
Israel imposed a complete seat in Gaza in the first days of the conflict and only attenuated it than under American pressure.
The United Nations agencies and aid groups have accused Israel not to facilitate enough aid for 15 months of conflict, and the Biden administration insisted it several times to do more. Experts have repeatedly warned that hunger was widespread in Gaza and that there was a risk of famine.
The International Criminal Court said there were reasons to believe that Israel had used “famine as a method of war” when it issued an arrest warrant against Netanyahu last year. The allegation is also at the heart of the case of South Africa to the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide.
Israel denied the accusations and rejected the two actions of the court as being biased against it. Israel says that it has allowed enough help to enter and blame the shortages on what it said to be the inability of the UN to distribute it. He also accused Hamas of siphoning help.
Kenneth Roth, former chief of Human Rights Watch, who is now a guest professor at Princeton University, said that Israel as an occupying power had an “absolute duty” to facilitate humanitarian aid under the Geneva conventions.
“The last threat of Israel to cut all the aid is a resumption of the war crime famine strategy” which led to the CPI’s mandate, he said.
The conflict began when activists led by Hamas stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mainly civilians and taking 251 hostages. Activists currently hold 59 hostages, 35 of which are considered dead, after having released most of the other ceasefire agreements.
Israel’s offensive killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to the Ministry of Health managed by Gaza. He says that more than half of the people killed were women and children, but does not specify how many deaths were fighters.
Israeli bombings and ground operations beat large areas of the gang with rubble and at the height of the displaced conflict about 90% of the population of 2.3 million Palestinians. The conflict has left most of the Gaza population based on international food aid and other essential elements.
–Magdy reported in Cairo. The writer Associated Press Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington contributed to this report.
