Washington, DC [US], March 23 (ANI): US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff has accused Hamas of sparking renewed fighting in Gaza, rejecting efforts to move forward with an “acceptable deal.”
Witkoff emphasised that Hamas had the opportunity to demilitarize and accept a bridging proposal but chose not to.
“So this is on Hamas. The United States stands with Israel,” Al Jazeera reported citing Witkoff’s statement on Fox News. “Hamas is the aggressor here.”
The proposed “bridge” plan aimed to extend the truce into April, allowing time for negotiations beyond the holidays of Ramadan and Passover.
According to Al Jazeera, the proposed “bridge” plan for the Gaza ceasefire, presented last week, aimed to extend the truce into April, allowing time for negotiations beyond the holidays of Ramadan and Passover.
However, Hamas insists that Israel must abide by the January ceasefire deal, including talks on ending the war permanently in exchange for the remaining 59 captives held in Gaza.
“We have positively responded to all the efforts made towards us. It was Netanyahu that has backed down on the agreement. It was Netanyahu who turned a blind eye to it. Therefore, it is Netanyahu, not Hamas or the resistance, that should be pressured to comply.”
Notably, Israeli’s army continues attacks across the Gaza Strip – killing dozens of people in pre-dawn raids, including senior Hamas official Salah al-Bardawil and his wife who were sleeping in a tent, as per Al Jazeera.
On Sunday morning, Israel Defence Forces launched a ground operation in Gaza’s Beit Hanoun town with fighter jets strucking several Hamas targets and terror infrastructure sites in the area.
Meanwhile, the IDF also warned residents of Rafah’s Tel-Sultan neighbourhood to evacuate their homes on Sunday.
In another update, CNN reported that Israel’s military carried out multiple waves of airstrikes across Lebanon targeting suspected Hezbollah sites on Saturday.
Citing the Lebanese Health Ministry, the report said that at least seven people have been killed, including a child, and 40 others injured in Saturday’s strikes.
With the ending to Gaza’s fragile ceasefire, the skies of Gaza are clouded with buzzing drones, grinding people down mentally. There is a constant fear of unpredictable attacks because of these sky predators.
And with three weeks of no aid coming in, the situation is extremely difficult. People are in survival mode, trying to get their hands on whatever they can.
Normally during Ramadan, shops and markets would be full of food. Now, almost nothing is available – and whatever small quantity is there is too expensive.
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has warned that every day that passed without the entry of vital humanitarian aid, including food, into the Gaza Strip brings the besieged territory closer “to an acute hunger crisis”.
In a post on X, Philippe Lazarrini said no food, medicine, water or fuel had entered Gaza in the past three weeks, saying this was “a tight siege longer than what was in place in the first phase of the war”.
“The people of Gaza depend on imports via Israel for their survival,” he added, noting that “banning aid is a collective punishment on Gaza.”
Israel has imposed a suffocating siege for the past 16 months and used starvation as a weapon. Even before October 7, 2023, the blockade had been in force across the Gaza Strip for more than a decade.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says at least 50,021 Palestinians have been confirmed dead and 113,274 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza. Gaza’s Government Media Office updated its death toll to more than 61,700, saying thousands of Palestinians missing under the rubble are presumed dead.
At least 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attacks and more than 200 taken captive. (ANI)
