Hamas official outlines Israeli violations of ceasefire
Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan says Israel has been violating several provisions of the first stage of the ceasefire agreement.
Some of the breaches, as outlined by Hamdan in a televised statement, include:
- Israeli forces violated the ceasefire 962 times, killing 116 Palestinians during the truce.
- Israel allowed an average of 23 fuel trucks daily instead of 50.
- Israel did not allow commercial imports of fuel.
- Israel only allowed 15 mobile homes into Gaza, instead of 60,000 as stipulated by the deal.
- Nine heavy equipment machines to remove the rubble were let into Gaza, while at least 500 were needed.
- Reconstruction material and medical equipment were restricted.
- Israel did not allow the restarting of the power station.
Hamas says ‘committed’ to ceasefire deal, Israel pushing things to ‘square one’
We have more lines from Osama Hamdan’s televised statement.
The senior Hamas official said the Palestinian group has honoured its commitments to the agreement in a “precise and timely” manner despite Israeli violations.
He added Hamas is “committed to the agreement” and wants to see the deal proceed to its second stage.
Hamdan also said in a televised statement that Israel is pushing to “bring back the situation to square one” with alternative proposals like extending the first stage, which does not adhere to what has been agreed upon.
He added that Netanyahu is “fully responsible” for the repercussions of the collapse of the agreement, including its effects on Israeli captives in Gaza.
“We condemn the cheap blackmail that Netanyahu and his extremist government are committing against our people by using humanitarian aid as a pressure card in the negotiations,” Hamdan said.
“We call on the international community to pressure Israel to open the crossings and allow the life-saving humanitarian aid into Gaza.”
More from Hamas’s Hamdan
The senior Hamas official calls on the international community and ceasefire mediators to push Netanyahu to return to the deal and avert its collapse.
He also hit out at Israel’s broader policies in the region. “Global security and stability are threatened amid the absolute US support for the Zionist entity and the international silence towards Israel’s abuses,” Hamdan said.
He added that Israel is threatening to renew the “war of extermination” on Gaza while escalating its “aggression” on the occupied West Bank, continuing its attacks on Lebanon and carrying out a “tyrannical” offensive on Syria.
“The repercussions of all of this will not be limited to our people,” Hamdan said.
Palestinians believe ‘negotiations did not end’
With Israel blocking all aid to Gaza, Palestinians in the besieged territory still have hope that diplomacy may succeed in averting a resumption of the war, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reports from Rafah in southern Gaza.
“Everything has been left up in the air as the situation looks very changeable,” Abu Azzoum said.
“From the Palestinian perspective, they believe that negotiations did not end, as intensive discussions have been taking place behind the scenes between Hamas and Israel by regional mediators to contain this crisis and to reach a common ground.”
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