Arab states and a UN blocking of the Gaza by Israel

Several Arab states and the UN have condemned Israel for blocking the entry of all humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

Egypt and Qatar said that Sunday’s Israeli move violated a high fire agreement, while the UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher described him as “alarming.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country acted because Hamas was stealing supplies and using them “to finance their terrorist machine.”

He also accused the Palestinian group of rejecting an American proposal to extend the high fire in Gaza, after he expired on Saturday. Israel said he had approved the proposal.

A Hamas spokesman said that Israel’s blockade was “cheap blackmail” and a “coup d’etat” against the high fire agreement.

The high fire agreement arrested 15 months of struggle between Hamas and the Israeli army, allowing the release of 33 Israeli hostages for about 1,900 prisoners and Palestinian detainees.

In a statement on Sunday, the Qatar Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that “the Israeli decision, describing it as” a clear violation of the high fire agreement “and” International Humanitarian Law “.

In Egypt, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused Israel of using hunger as “a weapon against the Palestinian people,” said the AFP news agency.

Both Qatar and Egypt helped mediate the high fire agreement in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia expressed his “condemnation and denunciation” of the Israeli aid block, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Tom Fletcher, Undersecretary General of Humanitarian Affairs of the UN, wrote in an X: “International humanitarian law is clear: we should allow us access to provide vital help to save lives.”

Netanyahu said that Israel had decided to act “because Hamas steals the supplies and prevents Gaza people from obtaining them.

“He uses these supplies to finance his terrorist machine, which is directed directly to Israel and our civilians, and we cannot accept this.”

Hamas has previously denied stealing humanitarian aid in Gaza.

Netanyahu also said that Hamas was refusing to accept a temporary extension of the high fire proposed by the envoy of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, Steve Witkoff.

The first phase of the high fire entered into force on January 19 and expired at midnight on Saturday.

The negotiations in phase two, destined to lead to a high permanent fire, the liberation of all the remaining living hostages and the withdrawal of the Israeli forces of Gaza, should have begun weeks ago, but it had barely begun.

It is believed that there are 24 live hostages, with another 39 allegedly dead.

Phase three is destined to result in the return of all the remaining bodies of dead hostages and the reconstruction of Gaza, which is expected to have been.

Hamas has said before that he will not agree with any extension of phase one without guarantees of the mediators that phase two will eventually take place.

As the first phase of the agreement expired on Saturday, Netanyahu’s office said Israel had agreed to Witkoff’s proposal so that the high fire continues for approximately six weeks during the Muslim Holy Month of the Easter periods of Ramadan and the Jews.

If, at the end of this period, the negotiations reached a dead end, Israel would reserve the right to return to war.

Witkoff has not made his proposal public. According to Israel, it would begin with the release of half of all the remaining live and dead hostages.

Israel says that Witkoff proposed temporary extension after convincing that more time was needed to try to close the differences between Israel and Hamas in conditions to end the war.

Help agencies confirmed that no help trucks in Gaza had not allowed Sunday morning.

“Humanitarian assistance has to continue flowing to Gaza. It is very essential. And we are calling all the parties to ensure that they reach a solution,” Antoine Renard of the World Food Program (WFP) told BBC.

Thousands of trucks have entered the strip of Gaza every week since the high fire was agreed in mid -January.

Help agencies have managed to store supplies, which means that there is no immediate danger to the civilian population.

Also on Sunday, doctors said four people had been killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza. The Israeli army said it had attacked people who were planting an explosive device in the north of the territory.

Hamas carried out an unprecedented attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking another 251 hostages.

Israel responded with an air and land campaign in the Gaza Strip, during which at least 48,365 people have been killed, according to the Ministry of Health led by Hamas from the territory.