Could the truce in Gaza turn short? Hamas accused this Monday, March 3, Israel of having worked on Monday, March 3, of having worked for a “collapse” of the truce agreement, after the Hebrew state blocked, the day before, the entry of humanitarian aid in the Palestinian enclave. This access to humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip had been allowed during the first phase of the truce which ended this Saturday, after disagreements with Hamas on the procedures for pursuing the ceasefire.
The truce agreement, which has silenced the arms since January 19 after fifteen months of war, was to take place in three phases. The first, which ended last Saturday, allowed the return of 33 Israeli hostages, including eight dead, in exchange for the release of around 1,800 Palestinian prisoners. Of the 251 hostages taken to Gaza during the attack on Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023, 58 are still retained there, 34 of which were declared dead by the Israeli army. The following truce phases had to allow new exchanges of captives, but also prepare a “permanent end of war” in the enclave.
But this second phase of the truce has for the moment never been the subject of a beginning of agreement, or even of preliminary discussions for its implementation between Israel and Hamas. The Hebrew state notably refuses to engage in it for the moment, not accepting to leave the Gaza strip until it is completely demilitarized and the Hamas definitively eliminated. For its part, Hamas has left the Israeli army of Gaza a non -negotiable condition for an agreement, in fact resulting in a net blocking between the two parties.
A proposal for compromise from the United States
Faced with this blockage, an alternative proposal came from the United States: an extension of the first truce phase during Ramadan and Jewish Passover, until mid-April. This compromise proposed by Washington stipulates, according to Israel, that “half of the Israeli hostages retained in Gaza,” dead and living “, be repatriated on the first day of the entry into force of this plan. The latest hostages would then be delivered “at the end, if an agreement is found on a permanent ceasefire”, without a departure from Israel from the Palestinian enclave being mentioned as an essential condition.
Hamas, in power in the Gaza Strip since 2007, has rejected this option and reaffirmed its “willingness to go to the end of the (two) stages of the” initial, a “global and permanent cease-fire” and the Israeli “full retirement” of Gaza, before “the reconstruction and lifting of the” territory.
What cause the anger of Israel, who therefore blocked this Sunday the entry of humanitarian aid within the Palestinian enclave. “Israel will not accept a cease-fire without release of our hostages,” said a statement from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, assuring that “if Hamas persists in its refusal, there will be other consequences”.
The UN calls for an “immediate return” of humanitarian aid
Hamas has described as “war crime” the blocking of aid to the Palestinian territory, whose 2.4 million inhabitants have lived besieged by Israel since the start of the war. The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for “immediate return to humanitarian aid in Gaza”, urging “all parties to the efforts necessary to avoid a return of hostilities in Gaza”. “International humanitarian law is clear: we must be authorized to access to provide vital and essential aid,” said UN humanitarian affairs manager Thomas Fletcher. “It is vital to maintain the ceasefire and humanitarian aid” for Gaza, has urged the secretary general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (FICR), Jagan Chapagain.
Several Arab countries, including Qatari and Egyptian mediators as well as Saudi Arabia, qualified the Israeli decision “blatant violation of the” cease-fire, accusing Israel “of using hunger as a weapon against the Palestinian people”. An Arab ministerial meeting is scheduled for Monday in Cairo, followed by an Arab summit devoted to Gaza.
The European Union has criticized both Hamas’ refusal to accept an extension of the first phase of the ceasefire and the blocking of aid by Israel. London also asked not to “block” humanitarian aid in Gaza, while Germany asked Israel to “immediately lift” the hindrances with humanitarian aid and enjoin the two parties to “return to the negotiation table”.