CAIRO, February 21. /TASS/. Israel’s air forces have violated the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip more than 350 times, the Al Jazeera television channel said, citing the enclave’s authorities.
The Gaza authorities have once again called on mediators to press Israel to expedite humanitarian deliveries to Gaza, which needs at least 60,000 mobile homes and 200,000 tents to accommodate local residents who have lost their homes and properties during the hostilities. The enclave’s government has also called for an international conference on post-war reconstruction.
Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 240 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave.
Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said late on January 15 that thanks to the mediatory efforts of Egypt, Qatar, and the United States, Israel and Hamas had reached an agreement on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages held in the enclave. During the first 42-day phase of the deal, Hamas will release 33 hostages in exchange for Israel freeing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. The agreement came into effect on January 19.
Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of "a cruel and despicable violation" of the ceasefire deal. Hamas claims to have handed over the bodies of three members of the Bibas family and Oded Lifshitz to the Red Cross on February 20. The younger Bibas, Kfir, was nine months and his brother Ariel was four when they were abducted. The Israeli side insists that the radicals handed over the body of an unidentified Gazan woman instead of the kids’ mother Shiri.