Israel blocked entry of AIDS trucks into Gaza on Sunday as the deadlock in the truce stopped fighting in the past six weeks, with Hamas calling on Egypt and Kathari mediators to intervene.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office earlier said it had adopted a proposal put forward by Steve Witkoff, the envoy of U.S. President Donald Trump, to temporarily cease fire in Gaza to fast for Ramadan and Passover, hours after a previously agreed ceasefire.
If an agreement is reached, the truce will cease fighting until the end of the Ramadan fasting period around March 31 and the Jewish Passover holiday around April 20.
The armistice will be conditional on Hamas’ release of half of his life and dead hostages on the first day, and if an agreement is reached on a permanent ceasefire, the rest will be released in the conclusion.
Hamas said it was committed to a ceasefire scheduled to enter the second phase, its negotiations targeting the permanent end of the war and rejected the idea of a temporary extension to a 42-day truce.
Egyptian sources said Friday that the Israeli delegation in Cairo tried to extend the first phase to 42 days, while Hamas hoped to move to the second phase of the ceasefire agreement. Hazem Qassem, a Hamas spokesman, said Saturday that the group rejected Israel’s “expression” to expand the first phase.
Many Palestinians mark the beginning of the Muslim Holy Month of Ramadan, as their houses were once Ramadan, as the first phase of a fragile ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas ended on Saturday. Hamas said there was “no progress” in the negotiations in the second phase of the ceasefire. Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/1.7472338
In the first phase of the ceasefire, Hamas handed over 33 Israeli hostages to an unplanned release in exchange for about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees evacuated from Israeli prisons and evacuated Israeli forces from some of their posts in Gaza.
According to the initial agreement, the purpose of the second phase was to begin negotiations at the release of the remaining 59 hostages, the entire evacuation of Israeli forces from Gaza and the final end of the war.
But negotiations never began, Israel said all hostages had to return to stop the fight.
“Israel will not allow a ceasefire,” Netanyahu’s office said, announcing that all goods and supplies would be brought into the Gaza Strip.
“If Hamas insists on rejecting, there will be other consequences.”
Hamas condemned Israel’s actions as “black-extortion” and “a coup that blatantly opposes the agreement.”
It said: “We call on the mediator to fulfill its obligations under the agreement at all stages of the agreement.”
Commenting on the cargo suspension, Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior Hamas official, told Reuters that the decision would affect talks on the ceasefire, adding that his group had “no response to pressure.”
The gap in post-war management in Gaza is very big
Speaking at a press conference with Croatia, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said that Palestinians in Gaza will not receive goods for free and should be related to the release of hostages.
He said the United States “understands” Israel’s decision to stop cargoes from entering Gaza, blaming Hamas on the current deadlock.
In Beit Hanoun Town, north of the Gaza Strip, medical staff said one Palestinian was killed and another was injured in an Israeli drone fire. Israel did not comment immediately.
Over the past six weeks, both parties have accused the other of breach of the agreement. However, despite repeated ic attacks, it still exists, and the prisoner exchange envisioned in the first phase has been completed.
On Saturday, Hamas’ Armed Wing released a video showing Israeli hostages still in Gaza, stressing that the rest of the hostages can only be released through swap transactions as stated in the phased ceasefire agreement that began in January.
However, there are large gaps in key areas of the permanent end of the war, including what forms will the government of Gaza take after the war and what future will Hamas in the future, which triggered an Israeli invasion of Gaza in the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
The attack killed 1,200 people in the worst day of life in Israel’s history and sent 251 people to Gaza as hostages. Gaza health officials said the Israeli movement killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, displaced almost all 2.3 million people and left the Gaza wasteland.
Israel insists that Hamas cannot play any role in the post-war future of Gaza and that its military and management structure must be eliminated. It also refused to join Palestinian authorities to Gaza, a body established under the Oslo agreement thirty years ago, which the institution exercised limited governance in the occupied West Bank.
Hamas said Gaza, which has controlled Gaza since 2007, will not insist on rule over Gaza, but will have to consult any future government.
The proposal by U.S. President Donald Trump further addresses the problem by evacuating the Palestinian population from Gaza and redeveloping the coastal enclave into a U.S.-owned real estate project.
