OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel said on Sunday it was suspending the entry of aid into Gaza, where both Israel and Palestinian sources reported Israeli military strikes as Hamas alleged a “coup” against a six-week old truce.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza reported at least four killed and six wounded in Israeli attacks.
As the 42-day first phase of the ceasefire drew to a close with negotiations inconclusive, Israel early Sunday approved a truce extension it said US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff proposed.
The extension would cover the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish holiday of Passover.
Hamas has repeatedly rejected an extension, instead favouring a transition to the truce deal’s second phase.
As outlined by former US president Joe Biden, the second phase would bring a permanent end to the war that began on October 7, 2023 when Hamas attacked Israel.
The truce’s first phase saw an increase of aid into the territory, where the war destroyed or damaged most of Gaza’s buildings, displaced almost the entire population, and triggered widespread hunger, according to the United Nations.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he had “decided that, from this morning, all entry of goods and supplies into the Gaza Strip will be suspended”.
It said there would be “consequences” for Hamas if it did not accept the temporary truce extension.
A ‘forever’ truce
On a sandy street in Gaza City, Mays Abu Amer, 21, expressed hope the ceasefire can continue “for a longer period of time and forever as well. Because we have so much destruction, we need a lot of time for reconstruction”.
Hamas said the “decision to suspend humanitarian aid is cheap blackmail, a war crime and a blatant coup against the [ceasefire] agreement”.
Gaza’s civil defence agency reported “artillery shelling and gunfire from Israeli tanks” east of Khan Yunis city in southern Gaza. The Israeli army said it was “unaware of any artillery shelling in this area”.
The Palestine Red Crescent, however, reported one person killed in an Israeli drone strike in the area, and one more killed in another town nearby.
The military said it had conducted an air strike in northern Gaza targeting suspects it said had “planted an explosive device” near its troops.
Including the deaths on Sunday, Gaza’s health ministry has recorded 116 people killed by Israel’s military since the ceasefire took effect on January 19, substantially reducing violence.
Mediator Egypt, the Red Cross and the UN have all appealed for the truce to be maintained.
“There is no alternative to the faithful and full implementation by all parties of what was signed last January,” Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said. He called for the European Union to exert pressure on the parties “especially the Israeli” side.
Following the announcement of the aid suspension, AFP images showed trucks loaded with goods lined up on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing to Gaza.
Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, whose party is crucial to keeping Netanyahu’s government in power, welcomed the decision to suspend aid.
According to Israel, the truce extension would see half of the hostages still in Gaza freed on the day the deal came into effect, with the rest to be released at the end if an agreement was reached on a permanent ceasefire.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem later said Israel “bears responsibility for the consequences of its decision on the people of the Strip and the fate of its prisoners”.
Its allied militant group, Islamic Jihad, accused Israel of “sabotaging” the ceasefire.
Of the 251 captives taken by Hamas during its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, 58 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military has confirmed are dead.
‘Return all of them’
On Sunday, Israeli mourners who turned out to farewell Shlomo Mansour, 85, whose body had been held in Gaza, said more should be done to get the remaining captives home.
“Return all of them immediately and then think about what to do,” said Vardit Roiter. Mansour’s was among four bodies that militants handed over on Thursday under the truce’s first phase.
They were among a total of eight bodies and 25 living hostages Hamas handed over under the initial phase, in exchange for the release of about 1,800 Palestinian prisoners.
The aid suspension comes as Palestinians in Gaza, alongside much of the Muslim world, mark the second day of the holy month of Ramadan, during which the faithful observe a dawn-to-dusk fast.
In November, a UN-backed assessment found “a strong likelihood that famine is imminent” within northern Gaza.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Sunday called such warnings “a lie during all this war.”
Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians, while Israel’s retaliation in Gaza killed more than 48,300 people, also mostly civilians, data from both sides show.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose country is Israel’s top military supplier, on Saturday said he signed a declaration “to expedite” delivery of about $4 billion in military assistance to Israel.
Abu Mohammed Al Basyuni, 56, had a message for America: “Enough bias towards one party,” he said among debris in Gaza City.
“As a people, we have the right to life and the right to coexist. Animals have rights. What about humans?”
