CAIRO, March 3. /TASS/. Hamas has urged Egypt and other Arab countries to take decisive steps to force Israel to stop its actions in the Gaza Strip following its decision to suspend humanitarian deliveries to the enclave.
"We call on Egypt and all Arab countries to take practical measures to stop Israel’s starvation policy against Gazans," Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said, as quoted on Hamas’ Telegram channel.
According to Qassem, the suspension of humanitarian deliveries to the enclave "paves the way for resettling Palestinians from Gaza" and is a "threat to national security of all Arab countries."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in the early hours on Sunday that Israel accepts US Presidential Special Envoy Steve Witkoff’s temporary ceasefire plan during Ramadan (until March 29) and Passover (from April 12 through 19). Under the plan, Palestinian groups are to release half of the hostages and hand over the bodies of those deceased on the first day and release the remaining hostages, both living and dead, at the end, if an agreement is reached on a permanent ceasefire.
According to Israeli prime minister’s representatives, should Hamas accept the US plan, Israel "will immediately begin talks on the details of Witkoff’s plan." However, later in the day, Netanyahu’s office said that Hamas had rejected the US proposal and Israel was blocking humanitarian deliveries to the Gaza Strip and closing all checkpoints along the enclave’s border. On March 2, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty condemned this decision as a "collective punishment" of Gazans and called for an immediate implementation of the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal.
In mid-January, Israel and Hamas reached an Egypt-, Qatar-, and US-brokered three-stage agreement to release the hostages held in Gaza and declare a ceasefire in the enclave. The three-phase deal took effect on January 19. The initial 42-day phase of the ceasefire ended on March 1.