Hamas slams Netanyahu’s halt on humanitarian aid as ‘cheap blackmail’ and ‘coup’ on ceasefire agreement
GAZA – Hamas said on Sunday that Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to halt humanitarian aid into Gaza is a ‘cheap blackmail’ and a ‘coup’ on the ceasefire agreement, urging the mediators to compel the occupation to end the punitive measures against Gaza.
“This decision complicates matters and affects the negotiation process, and Hamas doesn’t respond to pressures,” senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters.
The Zionist occupation announced on Sunday that it would halt the entry of all goods and supplies into the war-torn Gaza Strip, threatening “additional consequences” if its proposal to extend the ceasefire is not met.
The first phase of the ceasefire expired on Saturday, and the two sides have yet to negotiate the second phase, in which Hamas was to release dozens of remaining captives in return for an occupation withdrawal and a lasting ceasefire.
The Zionist entity said earlier on Sunday that it supports a proposal to extend the ceasefire through Ramadan and Passover, or April 20, adding that the proposal came from the Trump administration’s Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff.
Under that proposal, Hamas would release half the captives on the first day and the rest when an agreement is reached on a permanent ceasefire.
During the first, six-week phase of the ceasefire, Hamas released 25 captives and the bodies of eight others in exchange for the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinians detained by the occupation. Meanwhile, the occupying forces pulled back from most of Gaza and eased restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid.
Gaza’s Health Ministry has confirmed 48,388 Palestinian martyrs from the Zionist occupation’s genocidal war on Gaza, while 111,803 people have been wounded. The Government Media Office updated its death toll to at least 61,709, saying thousands of Palestinians missing under the rubble are presumed dead.
