Isreal To Block Gaza Aid Until Hamas Agrees Ceasefire Extension

Israel aims to block humanitarian aid into Gaza to pressure Palestinian militant group Hamas into accepting a temporary extension of the ceasefire agreement, officials said on Sunday, a day after the initial phase of the truce expired.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the proposed extension, which would run through the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish holiday of Passover, was an idea put forward by President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.

There has been no word from Witkoff or the Trump administration on the revised plan, nor on Israel’s assertion that suspending aid for Gaza was agreed with Washington.

Israel and Hamas have been split on what comes next after the end of the first phase of the ceasefire, under which dozens of Israeli hostages and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees were freed since January.

The proposal to extend the initial phase of the truce reportedly envisions half of the hostages held in Gaza being released on the day the extension begins.

Aid groups and the United Nations slammed the Israeli announcement, while Egypt, a mediator in the hostage-ceasefire deal, said it “unequivocally rejects the politicization of humanitarian aid and its exploitation as a tool of blackmail.”

Hamas, which is seeking negotiations on a permanent end to the fighting and the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, immediately rejected the plan, saying that Netanyahu and his government were carrying out “a blatant coup against the ceasefire deal” that had already been agreed.

“The only path to regional stability and the return of the prisoners is the full implementation of the agreement, starting with the second phase, which includes negotiations for a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal, reconstruction, and then the release of prisoners as part of an agreed-upon deal,” Hamas leader Mahmoud Mardawi said.

Hamas also said Israel’s decision to halt humanitarian aid into Gaza amounts to “cheap blackmail” and a “war crime,” and appealed to mediators to pressure Israel into ending its “punitive and immoral measures.”

CNN/Ejiofor Ezeifeoma