Israel announced on Sunday the suspension of humanitarian aid admission to the Gaza Stripa decision that Hamas denounced as a violation of the stagnant agreement of Alto El Fuego.
In the Palestinian territory, the Ministry of Health The Hamas government announced the death of four people in Israeli attacks. Israel said he had attacked suspects who manipulated a “Explosive artifact”.
After the expiration of the first phase of the truce, which entered into force on January 19 after being negotiated by the mediation of Qatar with the help of Egypt and USAIsrael and the Palestinian Islamist movement fail to agree on the next stage of the process.
This stagnation threatens to derail the truce achieved after 15 months of devastating war in Gaza, triggered by the attack of Hamas Against the southern Israel of October 7, 2023.
Israel indicated that he had accepted a last minute proposal presented by the American envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, which provides for an extension of the truce during the Ramadan Muslim party and even Jewish Easter, that is, until mid -April.
According to Israelthe proposal also foresees during this period the release of all hostages still captive in Gaza in two stages, the second of which is conditioned to a highly permanent fire agreement even to negotiate.
Hamas rejected this proposal and demands that the second phase provided for in the initial truce agreement be applied, estimating that the American commitment is equivalent to Israel “Reniege of the agreements he signed”.
Before him “rejection” Hamas to accept the American plan, Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, ordered the suspension “from this morning [de] Any merchandise entry and supplies in the Gaza Strip. ”
Price increase
Hamas immediately denounced the decision as “A cheap blackmail, a war crime and a shameless blow against the agreement” of truce
The Palestinian movement, in power in Gaza since 2007, asked “the mediators and the international community [que] Press Israel to “End your punitive measures” Against the more than 2 million inhabitants of Gaza, besieged by Israel since October 2023.
Islamic jihad, Hamas allied movement in war, said Israel “is responsible for sabotaging” the truce.
The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, requested “the immediate resumption of the flow of humanitarian aid”, and the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), Thomas Fletcher, said that Israel’s decision “is worrying”.
“About 7h30, the army gave the order” To close Kerem Shalom’s border crossing, Abu Yusef Shheiber said, a carrier who had to turn around.
“As soon as the merchants were informed of the closure (…) the prices uploaded”said Um Mohammad Abu Laia, a inhabitant of Rafah.
The head of Israeli diplomacy, Gideon Saar, described as “lie” the repeated warnings of international organizations on the threat of famine in Gaza during the war.
The initial truce agreement, negotiated for months, includes three phases of a duration of 42 days each.
During the first, which was on the verge of collapse several times, Hamas released 25 hostages and returned the bodies of eight to Israel, in exchange for the release of about 1,800 Palestinian prisoners.
Of the 251 hostages taken to Gaza during the October 7 attack, 58 are still held there, 34 of which would be dead, according to the Israeli army.
“Full implementation”
The second phase, for now hypothetical, foresees the release of the hostages that remain in Gaza, in exchange for several hundred Palestinian prisoners, the withdrawal of Israeli troops and the definitive end of war.
The last stage must focus on the reconstruction of the Palestinian territory.
The initial agreement includes a clause that automatically prolongs the first phase while negotiating the second.
Israel demands that the strip be demilitarized and eliminated. The Islamist movement insists, however, to stay.
Egypt asked for the “Full implementation” of the agreement. On Monday an Arab ministerial meeting is scheduled at Cairo, followed by an Arab Summit over Gaza.
The attack of Hamas of October 7, 2023 resulted in the death of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to a recount of the AFP of official data.
The military campaign of retaliation of Israel in Gaza left more than 48,000 dead, according to the data of the Ministry of Health of the Enclave, which the UN considers reliable, and plunged its 2.4 million inhabitants in a disastrous humanitarian situation.
Source: Gestion
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