Israel halted all humanitarian aid and other imports to the war-shattered Gaza Strip as a six-week truce with Hamas expired on Sunday and the Iranian-backed Palestinian faction balked at a U.S. bridging proposal to extend the suspension of hostilities.
The Israeli move drew a sharp response from Egypt, one of the key mediators looking to extend the ceasefire. Aid should not not be withheld “as a weapon for collective punishment or starvation,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said at a press conference.
While Hamas called the cut-off a “blackmail” and “a war crime,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar contrasted the skeletal appearance of many Israeli hostages released from Gaza in recent weeks with the crowds that milled around them.
“The terrorists and the crowd looked perfectly fine. The only ones that looked like they were starving were our hostages,” Sa’ar said at a press conference with his Croatian counterpart. “A huge, huge, huge number of trucks” entered the Gaza Strip over the past six weeks, he said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office warned earlier in a statement that “if Hamas keeps up its recalcitrance” regarding the ceasefire, “there will be further consequences.”
Disagreement over Hamas’ long-term fate had prevented an advance to a so-called Phase 2 entailing Israel’s full military withdrawal from Gaza and recovery of remaining hostages there.
Under the 11th-hour proposal brought by White House envoy Steve Witkoff, Israel said it was willing to enter a new truce that would span the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish festival of Passover. Around half of the 59 hostages would be returned at once and the rest upon a deferred agreement on an open-ended suspension of hostilities, Israel said.
The negotiations have been mediated by Qatar and Egypt, with Witkoff, a billionaire real estate investor appointed by President Donald Trump as a special Middle East envoy, speaking to the U.S.-aligned Arab powers.
Hamas, an Islamist group which is on terrorism blacklists in much of the West, said it “will not back down” from demanding Phase 2 now.
“The only path to regional stability and the return of the prisoners is the full implementation of the agreement, starting with the second phase, which includes a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal, reconstruction, and the release of prisoners under a mutually agreed-upon deal,” Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi said in a statement. “This is our firm stance.”
Israel, with U.S. support, wants Phase 2 to spell the end of Hamas’ rule and arsenal. Hamas has signaled willingness to give up on governance but not its rockets and rifles.
Humanitarian aid imports, vital for the masses of impoverished and displaced Palestinians in Gaza, had been stepped considerably up during the truce.
“It must be emphasized: Hamas currently controls all of the supplies and goods that are being sent to the Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu said on Sunday. “It is abusing the Gazan population that is trying to receive the aid, it is shooting at them, and is turning the humanitarian aid into a budget for terrorism.”
A commentator for Israel’s Army Radio suggested Palestinians had stockpiled enough fuel and food to survive and fight on for months, if needed.
Ramadan began this weekend and concludes on March 30. Passover is from April 12 to April 20. Under Witkoff’s proposal, Israel has a U.S.-guaranteed right to resume its Gaza offensive after 42 days “if it deems the negotiations ineffective,” Netanyahu’s office said in its statement.
Israel has been keeping forces in and around Gaza on stand-by for any new combat.
Separately, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday that he’d signed a declaration to expedite the delivery of about $4 billion in military aid to Israel.
About two dozen of the hostages remaining in Gaza are believed to be alive. Scores of others were recovered in previous deals in return for Israel’s release of hundreds of jailed Palestinian militants and detainees.
Thousands of Hamas operatives crossed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting 250. In the ensuing war with Israel, more than 48,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Vast stretches of the territory have been reduced to rubble.
Source: American Military News
