The UN demanded that humanitarian aid be restored immediately after Israel on Sunday prevented aid from entering Gaza, where a six-week truce allowed the entry of essential food, shelter, and medical supplies.
The Israeli decision came as the first phase of the ceasefire, which lasted 42 days, came to an end and negotiations on extending the truce seemed to reach a standstill.
Israel was accused by truce mediators Egypt and Qatar of flagrantly breaking the ceasefire agreement by stopping the supplies, which, according to AFP photos, left trucks piled high with cargo on the Egyptian side of the Rafah entrance to Gaza.
Israel reported early Sunday that U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff had suggested extending the truce until mid-April.
However, Hamas has consistently turned down an extension, preferring a move to the second phase of the truce agreement, which would end the war permanently.
Both Israeli and Palestinian media reported Israeli military attacks in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, where the health ministry said at least four people were killed, raising doubts about the truce.
Hamas, whose October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered the fighting, said the “decision to suspend humanitarian aid is cheap blackmail, a war crime and a blatant coup against the (ceasefire) agreement”.
The Egyptian foreign ministry accused Israel of using starvation as “a weapon against the Palestinian people”, comments echoed by Qatar which said it “strongly condemns” Israel’s decision.
Saudi Arabia, which has rejected any talk of normalising its ties with Israel without a Palestinian state, condemned the aid block as “a tool of blackmail and collective punishment”.
Jordan said Israel’s action “threatens to reignite” fighting in Gaza.
UN chief Antonio Guterres called for “humanitarian aid to flow back into Gaza immediately”.
The European Union condemned what it called Hamas’s refusal to accept the extension of the first phase, and added that Israel’s subsequent aid block “risked humanitarian consequences”.
Brussels called for “a rapid resumption of negotiations on the second phase of the ceasefire”.
