TEL AVIV: The Israeli military agency on Tuesday announced to reduce the number of trucks allowed to bring humanitarian aid into Gaza over the slow return of dead hostages, declaring it a “violation” of the truce agreement.
Leaders of the United States, Egypt, Qatar, and Turkiye on Monday signed a declaration in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, to serve as guarantors of a Gaza ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas aimed at ending two years of devastating Israeli military offensive that has killed at least 67,869 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023.
The agreement, reached after weeks of high-level negotiations, outlines a framework for maintaining the ceasefire, rebuilding war-torn Gaza, and setting parameters for future political talks between Israeli and Palestinian representatives.
Word of the cut in aid was conveyed to US officials and international aid groups, according to the AP news agency, citing sources.
A day earlier, Israelis celebrated the return of the last 20 living hostages from Gaza, while Palestinians welcomed the release of around 2,000 prisoners and detainees by Israel as part of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.
However, attention in Israel has now shifted to the return of the bodies of hostages who died in captivity.
Although Israeli officials had anticipated possible delays in the recovery process, families of the hostages and their supporters voiced frustration that only four of the 28 bodies were returned on Monday.
The Hostages Family Forum, a group representing many of the families, condemned the move as a “blatant violation of the agreement by Hamas.”
Israel kills nine Palestinians in Gaza
At least nine Palestinians were killed on Tuesday as Israeli forces opened fire in several parts of the Gaza Strip after a US-brokered ceasefire to end the more than two-year Israeli bombing campaign, Gaza’s health ministry said.
The Israeli military said it targeted individuals who “posed a threat” to its troops near a boundary line marking an initial withdrawal zone under the ceasefire agreement.
Gaza’s health ministry said six Palestinians were killed in two separate incidents in Gaza City, while three others died in attacks elsewhere across the Palestinian enclave.
Israeli military officials said their forces had fired on “suspects” who had crossed a boundary line near northern Gaza, describing the move as a “violation of the ceasefire deal.”
The ceasefire plan put forward by US President Donald Trump required that “all hostages, alive and deceased,” be returned within 72 hours of the agreement’s approval.
However, both Hamas and the International Committee of the Red Cross have stated that the extensive destruction across Gaza has made the recovery of the hostages’ bodies a significant challenge.
“The first steps to peace are always the hardest,” Trump had said as he stood with foreign leaders in Egypt on Monday for a summit on Gaza’s future.
He hailed the ceasefire deal he brokered between Israel and Hamas as the end of the war in Gaza — and the start of rebuilding the devastated territory.
