Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office has announced that all goods and supplies entering the Gaza Strip will be halted effective immediately. This decision comes after what the Israeli government describes as Hamas’s refusal to accept US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff’s framework for continuing negotiations, a proposal that Israel had agreed to.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has declared that Israel will not permit a ceasefire without the release of Israeli hostages. The statement warned that if Hamas continued to refuse the terms, “there will be additional consequence”.
Hamas accused Israel of trying to derail the truce and said its decision to cut off aid was “cheap extortion, a war crime and a blatant attack on the (ceasefire) agreement”. Both sides stopped short of saying the ceasefire had ended.
Mourners gather around the car carrying the coffin of slain hostage Shlomo Mantzur, during his funeral procession in Rishon Lezion, Israel, on Sunday. Pics/AFP
Israel’s government said early on Sunday it supports a proposal to extend the first phase of the ceasefire in Gaza through Ramzan and Passover, though Hamas has insisted on negotiating the truce’s second phase instead.
The statement by Netanyahu’s office came minutes after the first phase ended, and as talks have begun on starting the second phase that’s aimed at ending the war and seeing all remaining living hostages in Gaza returned home.
Israel arrests 432 ‘illegal Palestinians’
In a pre-Ramzan crackdown, 432 Palestinians illegally living in Israel were arrested during the past week, the Israeli Police said on Sunday. An additional 55 people suspected of aiding them were also arrested. Most arrests took place in the Jerusalem area. Palestinian terror attacks have been on the rise during Ramzan.
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