Israel blocked the entry of aid trucks into Gaza on Sunday as a standoff over the truce that has halted fighting for the past six weeks escalated, with Hamas calling on Egyptian and Qatari mediators to intervene.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said on Sunday that Egypt’s Gaza reconstruction plan, which ensures Palestinians remain in their land, was ready and would be presented at an emergency Arab summit in Cairo on Tuesday.
Turkish and British officials would discuss Syria’s future during a meeting in Ankara on Monday, with security, sanctions and economic development on the agenda, said a Turkish foreign ministry source on Sunday.
Israel blocks aid into Gaza as ceasefire standoff escalates
Israel blocked the entry of aid trucks into Gaza on Sunday as a standoff over the truce that has halted fighting for the past six weeks escalated, with Hamas calling on Egyptian and Qatari mediators to intervene.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said earlier that it had adopted a proposal by US President Donald Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza for the Ramadan and Passover periods, hours after the first phase of the previously agreed ceasefire expired.
If agreed, the truce would halt fighting until the end of the Ramadan fasting period around March 31 and the Jewish Passover holiday around 20 April.
The truce would be conditional on Hamas releasing half of the living and dead hostages on the first day, with the remainder released at the conclusion, if an agreement is reached on a permanent ceasefire.
Hamas says it is committed to the originally agreed ceasefire that had been scheduled to move into a second phase, with negotiations aimed at a permanent end to the war, and it has rejected the idea of a temporary extension to the 42-day truce.
Reflecting the fragility of the ceasefire deal, local health officials said Israeli gunfire had killed four Palestinians in separate attacks in the northern and southern Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military said that “suspects” were identified close to its troops in northern Gaza and that they had planted a bomb. It added that an airstrike was carried out to “eliminate the threat”.
Egyptian sources said on Friday that the Israeli delegation in Cairo had sought to extend the first phase by 42 days, while Hamas wanted to move to the second phase of the ceasefire deal. Spokesperson Hazem Qassem said on Saturday that the group rejected Israel’s “formulation” of extending the first phase.
In the first phase of the ceasefire, Hamas handed over 33 Israeli hostages as well as five Thais returned in an unscheduled release, in exchange for around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees from Israeli jails and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from some of their positions in Gaza.
Under the original agreement, the second phase was intended to see the start of negotiations over the release of the remaining 59 hostages, the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, and a final end to the war.
However, the talks never began and Israel says all its hostages must be returned for fighting to stop.
“Israel will not allow a ceasefire without the release of our hostages,” said Netanyahu's office, announcing that the entry of all goods and supplies into the Gaza Strip would be halted.
“If Hamas persists in its refusal, there will be additional consequences.”
Hamas has denounced Israel’s move as “blackmail” and a “blatant coup against the agreement”.
“We call on mediators to pressure the occupation to fulfill its obligations under the agreement, in all its phases,” it said, adding that the only way to get the hostages back would be to adhere to the agreement and start talks for the second phase.
Commenting on the goods suspension, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters the decision would impact the ceasefire talks, adding his group “doesn't respond to pressures”.
Later on Sunday, Israeli officials said a delegation would arrive in Cairo in an apparent move to discuss ways to defuse tensions and ensure the ceasefire remains in effect.
Speaking at a news conference with his Croatian counterpart, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Palestinians in Gaza would not get goods for free and further negotiations should be linked to the release of the hostages.
He said the US “understands” Israel's decision to halt the entry of goods into Gaza, blaming Hamas for the current stalemate in the talks.
Over the past six weeks, both sides have accused the other of breaching the agreement. But despite repeated hiccups, it has remained in place while the hostage-for-prisoner exchange envisaged in the first phase was completed.
But there are wide gaps on key areas regarding a permanent end to the war, including what form a postwar administration of Gaza would take and what future there would be for Hamas, which triggered Israel's invasion of Gaza with its attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.
The attack killed 1,200 people, in the worst one-day loss of life in Israel’s history, and saw 251 people taken into Gaza as hostages. The Israeli campaign has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, displaced almost all of its 2.3 million population and left Gaza a wasteland.
Israel insists that Hamas can play no part in the postwar future of Gaza and that its military and governing structures must be eliminated. It also rejects bringing into Gaza the Palestinian Authority, the body set up under the Oslo accords three decades ago and which exercises limited governance in the occupied West Bank.
Hamas has said it would not insist on continuing to rule Gaza, which it has controlled since 2007, but it would have to be consulted over whatever future administration followed.
The issue has been further muddled by Trump’s proposal to remove the Palestinian population from Gaza and redevelop the coastal enclave as a property project under US ownership.
Egypt says Gaza reconstruction plan ready
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said on Sunday that Egypt’s Gaza reconstruction plan, which ensures Palestinians remain in their land, was ready and would be presented at an emergency Arab summit in Cairo on Tuesday.
Arab states, which were swift to reject Trump’s plan for the US to take control of Gaza and resettle Palestinians, are scrambling to agree on a diplomatic offensive to counter the idea.
Trump’s plan, announced on 4 February amid a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, appeared to back away from longstanding US Middle East policy focused on a two-state solution and sparked anger among Palestinians and Arab nations.
Abdelatty said Egypt would seek international backing and funding for the plan and emphasised Europe’s crucial role, particularly in the financing of Gaza’s reconstruction.
“We will hold intensive talks with major donor countries once the plan is adopted at the upcoming Arab Summit,” he said in a press conference with the EU Commissioner for the Mediterranean, Dubravka Suica.
Israel on Sunday blocked the entry of aid trucks into Gaza as a standoff over the truce that has halted fighting for the past six weeks escalated. Abdelatty said the use of aid as a weapon of collective punishment could not be permitted.
The first phase of the fragile ceasefire agreement expired this weekend. Abdelatty reaffirmed Egypt’s commitment to the originally agreed ceasefire that had been scheduled to move into a second phase. “It will be difficult, but with goodwill and political determination, it can be achieved,” he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said earlier that it had adopted a US proposal for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza for the Ramadan and Passover periods.
Abdelatty said after Tuesday’s summit, foreign ministers of member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation would hold an urgent meeting in Saudi Arabia to discuss how to present the plans.
“We will ensure that the results of the Arab summit are presented to the world in the best possible way,” he said.
Turkish and British officials to discuss post-Assad Syria
Turkish and British officials would discuss Syria’s future during a meeting in Ankara on Monday, with security, sanctions and economic development on the agenda, said a Turkish foreign ministry source on Sunday.
Nato-member Turkey was a main backer of rebels who fought Bashar al-Assad for years and it has forged close ties with the new administration in Damascus following Assad’s ouster last year. It has promised to help rebuild Syria and offered assistance to train and equip its security forces.
Britain said last month it would adapt its Syria sanctions regimen after Assad’s fall, but would ensure asset freezes and travel bans imposed on members of the former government remained in place.
The Turkish source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Monday’s talks would be led by Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Nuh Yilmaz and British junior Foreign Office Minister Hamish Falconer.
Yilmaz would emphasise the need for sanctions on Syria to be lifted unconditionally for rebuilding and economic development, said the source.
Yilmaz would also stress “the importance of the international community backing the Syrian administration’s steps towards achieving national reconciliation within a central government”, and push “to stop Israel’s actions openly violating and threatening Syria’s sovereignty”, added the source.
Reuters reported on Friday that Israel is lobbying the US to keep Syria weak and decentralised, including by letting Russia keep its military bases there to counter Turkey’s growing influence in Syria, according to sources familiar with the efforts.
Turkish Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said on Sunday Turkey had completed an initial phase of repairs and maintenance, including installing new equipment, at Damascus airport as part of Ankara’s efforts to help rebuild the transport hub.
US to expedite delivery of $4bn in military aid to Israel
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday he had signed a declaration to expedite delivery of about $4-billion in military assistance to Israel.
The Trump administration, which took office on 20 January, has approved nearly $12-billion in major foreign military sales to Israel, said Rubio, adding that it “will continue to use all available tools to fulfill America’s long-standing commitment to Israel’s security, including means to counter security threats”.
Rubio said he had used emergency authority to expedite the delivery of military assistance to Israel to its Middle East ally, now in a fragile ceasefire with Hamas militants in their war in Gaza.
The Pentagon said on Friday that the State Department had approved the potential sale of nearly $3-billion worth of bombs, demolition kits and other weaponry to Israel.
The administration notified Congress of those prospective weapons sales on an emergency basis, sidestepping a long-standing practice of giving the chairs and ranking members of the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations Committees the opportunity to review the sale and ask for more information before making a formal notification to Congress.
Friday’s announcements marked the second time in recent weeks that Trump’s administration has declared an emergency to quickly approve weapons sales to Israel. The Biden administration also used emergency authority to approve the sale of arms to Israel without congressional review.
On Monday, the Trump administration rescinded a Biden-era order requiring it to report potential violations of international law involving US-supplied weapons by allies, including Israel. It has also eliminated most US humanitarian foreign aid. DM
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