Israel announces suspension of supplies into Gaza

Israel announced on Sunday that it was suspending the entry of supplies into Gaza, and threatened “consequences” for Hamas if it did not accept a proposal for a temporary extension of the truce in the Palestinian territory.

Protesters hold photos of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip during a demonstration calling for the release of all hostages after the first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire ended at the weekend. Picture: Amir Levy/Getty Images

Israel announced on Sunday that it was suspending the entry of supplies into Gaza, and threatened “consequences” for Hamas if it did not accept a proposal for a temporary extension of the truce in the Palestinian territory.

“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.

“Israel will not accept a ceasefire without the release of our hostages. If Hamas persists with its refusal, there will be other consequences,” the statement added.

Hamas slammed the move, calling it a “war crime” and saying it violated the terms of the ceasefire agreement between the two sides, the first 42-day phase of which just drew to a close.

A proposed extension of the first phase, which according to Netanyahu’s office was put forward by US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, would last through Ramadan and end at Passover in mid-April.

According to the Israeli statement, the extension would see half of the hostages still in Gaza freed on the day the deal came into effect, with the rest would be released at the end if an agreement was reached on a permanent ceasefire.

Hamas said in a statement on Sunday that Mr Netanyahu’s “decision to suspend humanitarian aid is cheap blackmail, a war crime and a blatant coup against the (ceasefire) agreement”.

Hamas said Israel “bears responsibility for hostages’ fate”.

The Palestinian group has consistently favoured a transition to the second phase of the ceasefire, which would see the release of all remaining hostages and a more permanent end to the fighting in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.

Following the announcement from Netanyahu’s office, his spokesman Omer Dostri wrote on X: “No trucks entered Gaza this morning, nor will they at this stage.”

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, whose party is crucial to keeping Mr Netanyahu’s government in power, welcomed the decision to suspend aid.

Israel’s backing of what it said was a US plan comes amid a flurry of warnings not to restart the war, which after 15 months has devastated Gaza, displaced almost the entire population of the coastal strip and sparked a humanitarian crisis. United Nations head Antonio Guterres warned against a “catastrophic” return to war and said a “permanent ceasefire and the release of all hostages are essential to preventing escalation and averting more devastating consequences for civilians”.

Israeli officials engaged in ceasefire negotiations with Egyptian, Qatari and US mediators in Cairo last week. But by early Saturday there was no sign of consensus as Muslims in Gaza marked the first day of Ramadan with coloured lights brightening war-damaged neighbourhoods.

A senior Hamas official said the Palestinian militant group was prepared to release all remaining hostages in a single swap during the second phase.

“Hamas will not be happy to drag on phase one, but it doesn’t really have the capacity to force Israel to go on to phase two,” said Max Rodenbeck, an analyst for the International Crisis Group.

Under terms of the six-week ceasefire that took effect on January 19, Gaza militants freed 25 living hostages and returned the bodies of eight to Israel, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

The deal, following months of gruelling negotiations, largely halted the war that erupted with Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. While Hamas on several occasions reiterated its “readiness to engage in negotiations for its second phase”, Israel preferred to secure more hostage releases under an extension of the first phase.

A Palestinian source close to the talks said Israel had proposed to extend the first phase in successive one-week intervals with a view to conducting hostage-prisoner swaps each week, but that Hamas had rejected the plan.

Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas’s October 7 attack, 58 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Hamas’s armed wing released footage showing what appeared to be a group of Israeli hostages in Gaza, accompanied with the message: “Only a ceasefire agreement brings them back alive.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office called it “cruel propaganda”, but Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said the Horn family, two of whose members appear in the video, had given permission for the footage of them to be published.

Israeli-Argentinian Yair Horn was released on February 15 but his brother, Eitan, remains in captivity in Gaza.

“We demand from the decision-makers: Look Eitan in the eyes. Don’t stop the agreement that has already brought dozens of hostages back to us,” the family said.

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