Israeli cruelty returns as first phase of truce ends
The ministry of health in Hamas-run Gaza said four people were killed and six others wounded in Israeli attacks Sunday after the first phase of a fragile truce in the territory drew to a close.
"Since this morning, four dead and six wounded" have been brought to "hospitals in the Gaza Strip following Israeli attacks in various parts of the territory", the ministry said in a statement.
Israel said that it was suspending the entry of supplies into Gaza after an impasse over how to proceed with their fragile ceasefire.
As the 42-day first phase of the ceasefire drew to a close, Israel gave its backing to an extension it said was put forward by US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, which 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, which would see the release of all remaining hostages and a more permanent end to the fighting in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.
"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided that, from this morning, all entry of goods and supplies into the Gaza Strip will be suspended," his office said in a statement.
Hamas slammed the move, saying in a statement that 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, meanwhile, reported that "artillery shelling and gunfire from Israeli tanks" targeted areas east of Khan Yunis city, in the southern Gaza Strip.
Hamas called on "mediators and the international community to pressure" Israel to "put an end to these punitive, immoral measures against more than two million people in the Gaza Strip".
Its 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".
A senior Hamas official had earlier told AFP the Palestinian militant group was prepared to release all remaining hostages in a single swap during the second phase.
Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi said Sunday that proceeding to the second phase was "the only way to achieve stability in the region and the return" of the hostages.
Under the first phase, Hamas returned 25 living hostages and the bodies of eight others, in exchange for the release of about 1,800 Palestinian prisoners.
The suspension of aid 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.
The war has ravaged the vast majority of Gaza and killed more than 48,388 people there, mostly civilians, according to the territory's health ministry, figures the UN has deemed reliable.
Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross called on Israel and Hamas to maintain their ceasefire in Gaza to prevent the conflict-weary region from sinking back into despair.
"The ceasefire agreement has saved countless lives and offered a beacon of hope amid unimaginable suffering. Any unravelling of the forward momentum created over the last six weeks risks plunging people back into despair," it said in a statement, adding the truce was "essential."
Every effort must be made to maintain the ceasefire so that lives are spared from hostilities, humanitarian aid enters Gaza, and more families are reunited.