Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said earlier that it had adopted a proposal by U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, for a temporary cease-fire in Gaza for the Ramadan and Passover periods, hours after the first phase of the previously agreed cease-fire 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 April 20.
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 cease-fire.
Hamas says it is committed to the originally agreed cease-fire 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 cease-fire deal, local health officials said Israeli gunfire had killed four Palestinians in separate attacks in the northern and southern Gaza Strip. There was no immediate Israeli comment.
Egyptian sources said 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 cease-fire 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 cease-fire, Hamas handed over 33 Israeli captives 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 cease-fire without the release of our hostages,” Netanyahu’s office said, 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 cease-fire talks, adding his group “doesn’t respond to pressures.”
Truck drivers wait to cross the Rafah Border Crossing, between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, North Sinai Governorate, Egypt, Feb. 24, 2025. (EPA Photo)
Standoff, standstill
Speaking at a news conference with his Croatian counterpart, Israel’s 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 United States “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.
On Saturday, Hamas posted a video showing Israeli hostages still in its custody in Gaza and stressed that the remaining hostages can only be freed through a swap deal as stated under the phased cease-fire agreement that began in January.
But there are wide gaps on key areas regarding a permanent end to the war, including what form a post-war administration of Gaza would take and what future there would be for Hamas, which triggered Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza with its incursion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The incursion caused 1,200 deaths and took 251 hostages. The Israeli war has killed more than 48,500 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 post-war 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 U.S. ownership.
Source:dailysabah.com