Trump, Israel to blame for ceasefire pause: Barghouti
Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, says Hamas’s announcement that it would indefinitely delay the release of the remaining Israeli captives is an unsurprising development but a source of concern.
“Of course we are worried about what might happen,” he told Al Jazeera.
Barghouti particularly singled out Trump for undermining the Gaza truce and noted Israel has repeatedly violated it, including by failing to provide the agreed-upon humanitarian assistance, particularly shelters.
“None of that happened, and more than that, a lot of the humanitarian aid was obstructed by Israel,” Barghouti said.
Israeli forces continue to fire on and kill people in Gaza, he noted, but Trump’s recent statements about the future of Gaza were the most crucial factor.
“What do they want? To get back all the Israeli prisoners and then continue the massacres in Gaza? This is exactly the message that Palestinians were getting.”
Truce violations have been widely committed by Israel
If there is no move by the Israelis to address the shortcomings regarding the implementation of the humanitarian protocol of the ceasefire deal, the situation in Gaza is going to get much worse.
In the terms of the agreement, 600 trucks full of aid are supposed to enter the Strip each day. At first, this exceeded expectations. But recently the number of aid deliveries has greatly dwindled to 330 trucks daily.
The United Nations humanitarian office reported over 12,600 trucks have entered over the past three weeks. This number is far less than what’s been promised.
For patients in need of medical treatment abroad, only 50 Palestinians have been sent since the beginning of this month, which completely contradicts the number agreed on in the truce deal. These violations have been widely committed by Israel.
Israeli public anger for delay in captives’ release directed at Netanyahu
Hamas’s decision is “tragic” but predictable, according to Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli diplomat.
“Netanyahu indicated, before his trip to Washington, that he does not have any intentions of moving on to phase two [of the ceasefire deal],” Pinkas told Al Jazeera, speaking from Tel Aviv.
“The moment he made it clear that he has no intention of moving to phase two, that put into question phase one … Then he went to Washington and stood by President Trump, who came up with this Gaza Riviera idea that includes expelling 2.3 million Palestinians.
“Fast forward to today, in an interview on Fox News, [Trump] said that [Palestinians] will not be able to return to Gaza.”
Pinkas said the reaction in Israel to Hamas’s decision is anger directed at Prime Minister Netanyahu. “I would not be surprised to see a very intense, very angry, very broad pushback against Netanyahu in the next 24 hours.”
The former diplomat added far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir’s response – to start up the war again and “destroy” Gaza – should not be taken seriously now that he is out of the government.
Ben-Gvir resigned last month as a result of the Hamas-Israel ceasefire agreement coming into effect.
Increased Israeli drone activity over northern Gaza
Our colleagues on the ground report an increase in drone activity over the skies of Gaza City and other areas in the Strip’s war-battered northern areas.
Meanwhile, Israeli media report that the army suspended leave for all Gaza division soldiers.
The news reports come after Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said he put the armed forces on the highest level after Hamas announced it is suspending the transfer of captives from Gaza because of violations of the ceasefire agreement.
