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A day after Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said it was imposing a blockade on Gaza following Hamas’s refusal to accept a ceasefire extension plan which it claimed had been put forward by the US special envoy Steve Witkoff, Israel has been accused of using ‘food as a weapon of war’.
Some Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar have said Israel’s decision “violated the ceasefire deal”.
“With the end of phase one of the hostage deal, and in light of Hamas’s refusal to accept the Witkoff outline for continuing talks – to which Israel agreed – prime minister Netanyahu has decided that, as of this morning, all entry of goods and supplies into the Gaza Strip will cease. Israel will not allow a ceasefire without the release of our hostages,” Netanyahu’s office had said in a statement, adding, “If Hamas continues its refusal, there will be further consequences.”
“No trucks entered Gaza this morning, nor will they at this stage”, the Guardian quoted Netanyahu’s spokesperson Omer Dostri as saying after the announcement.
Reacting to the announcement, Egyptian foreign ministry reportedly said Israel was using starvation as “a weapon against the Palestinian people”.
Terming Israel’s decision “blackmail” and “collective punishment”, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry urged the international community to “stop these serious Israeli violations”, DW reported, citing a statement cited by the official Saudi Press Agency.
Qatar’s foreign ministry, on the other hand, said: “Qatar strongly condemns the decision of the Israeli occupation government to stop bringing humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, and considers it a blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement, (and) international humanitarian law”, Guardian reported.
UN Secretary General António Guterres, meanwhile, has also demanded that “humanitarian aid flow back into Gaza immediately”, the report said.
Israel’s blockade (of supplies to Gaza) was “cheap blackmail” and a “coup” against the ceasefire agreement, a Hamas spokesperson said according to the report.
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