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Hamas says Israel worked to 'collapse' Gaza truce deal

Hamas accused Israel of working to 'collapse' the Gaza ceasefire deal in a video statement, as Israel works to extend phase 1 of the truce.
11 min read
03 March, 2025
Last Update
04 March, 2025 04:08 AM

Palestinian group Hamas on Monday accused Israel of working to "collapse" a ceasefire agreement for Gaza and evade a continuation of the truce amid an impasse over its implementation.

"Violations of the agreement during the first phase prove beyond a doubt the (Israeli) occupation government was interested in the collapse of the agreement and worked hard to achieve that," senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said in a video statement.

Hamdan also calling Israel's push for an extension of the deal "a blatant attempt to evade the agreement and avoid entering into negotiations for the second phase".

Two Palestinian children injured by Israel fire in West Bank
9:16 PM
°®Âþµº Staff

Israeli forces shot two Palestinian children with live ammunition during a raid in the town of Odala, south of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The agency cited a medical official who stated that one child was shot in the hand and the other in the chest. The victims are reported to be 13 and 15 years old

Jordan: Israel's decision to block Gaza aid risks new fight
8:37 PM
°®Âþµº Staff & Agencies

Jordan on Sunday condemned Israel's decision to stop humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza Strip, warning that it could reignite the fighting largely halted since a truce went into effect six weeks ago.

Jordanian foreign ministry spokesman Sufyan Qudah said in a statement that "the Israeli government's decision... threatens to reignite the situation in the Strip", adding that Israel must "stop using starvation as a weapon against innocent Palestinians who are under siege, especially during the holy month of Ramadan".

UN dismisses Netanyahu claim that Hamas is 'stealing aid'
7:14 PM
°®Âþµº Staff

UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric says agencies working on the ground in Gaza have not reported that Hamas is stealing humanitarian aid entering the territory, dismissing claims made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Al Jazeera reports.

Netanyahu had stated that Israel is blocking aid to Gaza "because Hamas steals the supplies and prevents the people of Gaza from getting them."

However, Dujarric told reporters that the aid was reaching those in need. Asked about Netanyahu’s claims, he said: "None of that has been reported back here by our colleagues on the ground. We have seen, since the ceasefire, there is a much freer and more direct flow [of] aid, and we have not seen any of the looting that we had seen prior to the ceasefire."

Syria state media confirms Israel struck Tartus area
6:57 PM
°®Âþµº Staff & Agencies

Syrian state media said Israeli strikes hit the Tartus area on Monday, after a war monitor reported a blast near the city's port.

Official news agency SANA reported "air strikes carried out by Israeli occupation aircraft on the surroundings of Tartus city, without recording human losses so far," adding that "civil defence and specialised teams are working to confirm the location of the targets".

Syria monitor report blast near Tartus port, 'likely Israel'
6:32 PM
°®Âþµº Staff & Agencies

A Syria war monitor reported an explosion near the Tartus port on Monday at the same time as unidentified aircraft, which it said were "likely Israeli", flew over the coastal city.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said "a strong explosion rocked the Tartus port, at the same time as unknown aircraft, likely Israeli", flew overhead, reporting smoke rising from the site. Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP the explosion was in a military base near the port.

Israeli forces and settlers carried out 1,705 attacks in Feb
6:00 PM
°®Âþµº Staff

Israeli forces and settlers carried out 1,705 attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in February, a report from the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission revealed.

The Israeli army was responsible for 1,475 of these attacks, while the settlers were responsible for 230, with the majority of the attacks happening in Nablus, with 300, Hebron, with 267 and Ramallah, with 263. 

Settler attacks were most frequent in Nablus and Hebron, with 43 incidents, including vandalism and theft. 

The army carried out 79 demolitions in February, affecting 156 structures and 109 homes that were inhabited.

Gaza aid stockpiles limited after Israel cuts flows
5:31 PM
°®Âþµº Staff & Agencies

Food, medicine and shelter stockpiles in Gaza are limited and aid intended for Palestinians in desperate need may spoil following Israel's suspension of deliveries to the enclave, humanitarian agencies said on Monday.

Israel blocked the entry of aid trucks into Gaza on Sunday as a standoff over the truce that has halted fighting for the past six weeks escalated.

"Much of what has come in over the past few weeks has already been distributed...Now, already we are seeing price increases", a UN official in Gaza told Reuters.

Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres warned that the suspension of aid will add significant pressure on the two million Palestinians in the enclave who are still suffering from shortages of essential goods following 16 months of war. Israel has previously accused Hamas of hijacking aid, which the group denied.

"Any further challenges to access to food and access to clean water could have devastating consequences. The spike in food and good prices is creating fear and uncertainty", Caroline Seguin, MSF emergency coordinator, in Gaza told Reuters.

Salama Marouf, head of the Gaza government media office, said enough food was in markets for at least two weeks and urged Gazans not to panic.

(Reuters)

Israel PM says time to give Gazans 'freedom to leave'
4:58 PM
°®Âþµº Staff & Agencies

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said it was time to give Palestinians "the freedom to leave" Gaza, praising US President Donald Trump's "visionary and innovative" plan to forcibly remove the territory's residents.

"President Trump presented a visionary and innovative vision for the freedom of migration from Gaza, and I believe it's a vision that should be supported," Netanyahu said during a speech at the Israeli parliament, adding: "It's time to give the residents of Gaza a real choice. It's time to give them the freedom to leave."

Israel PM warns Hamas of consequences it 'cannot imagine'
4:30 PM
°®Âþµº Staff & Agencies

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hamas on Monday of consequences it "cannot imagine" if the Palestinian group does not release the captives held in Gaza.

"I tell Hamas: If you do not release our hostages, there will be consequences that you cannot imagine," Netanyahu said during a speech at the Israeli parliament, as negotiations for the Gaza ceasefire's continuation have stalled.

Hamas says Israel worked to 'collapse' Gaza truce deal
4:00 PM
°®Âþµº Staff & Agencies

Hamas on Monday accused Israel of working to "collapse" a ceasefire agreement for Gaza and evade a continuation of the truce amid an impasse over its implementation.

"Violations of the agreement during the first phase prove beyond a doubt the (Israeli) occupation government was interested in the collapse of the agreement and worked hard to achieve that," senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said in a video statement, calling Israel's push for an extension of the deal "a blatant attempt to evade the agreement and avoid entering into negotiations for the second phase".

Israel: Hamas has 'enough food to fuel an obesity epidemic'
3:30 PM
°®Âþµº Staff & Agencies

Israeli government spokesman David Mencer on Monday accused Hamas of hoarding supplies, saying they have "enough food" in Gaza a day after Israel blocked aid deliveries amid an impasse in truce talks.

Mencer told a press briefing that the Palestinian group was hoarding supplies for its members "for months and months" and has "enough food to fuel an obesity epidemic", adding that "no one is going hungry in Hamas" and that "the supplies are there, but Hamas don't share".

Arab top diplomats hold closed-door talks over post-war Gaza
3:06 PM
°®Âþµº Staff & Agencies

Arab foreign ministers met behind closed doors in Cairo on Monday ahead of an extraordinary Arab League summit focused on a plan to counter US President Donald Trump's proposal to take over Gaza and expel its residents.

The ministers held a "preparatory and consultative" session centred on an Arab plan to reconstruct the war-battered enclave without displacing its 2.4 million residents, a source at the Arab League told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The meeting was closed to the press, the source said, adding that the plan "would be presented to Arab leaders at Tuesday's summit for approval".

Israel's Ben-Gvir calls for bombing of aid depots in Gaza
2:33 PM
°®Âþµº Staff

The leader of Israeli far-right party Otzma Yehudit, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to bomb aid depots in Gaza as a strategy to pressure Hamas, according to a report from the Times of Israel.

During a weekly faction meeting in the Israeli Knesset Ben-Gvir, who resigned from his post as National Security Minister in protest at the agreement of a Gaza ceasefire, said that Israel should bomb aid depots to "suffocate Hamas and make it surrender and return all out hostages." 

"To make this happen, Gaza must endure hell. And hell also means bombing all the aid depots that Hamas holds", he said, adding that this also including halting electricity and water supplies to the enclave.

He also called on Netanyahu to go back to war in the enclave, and said that Israel should tell Hamas that "harming an Israeli hostage will be met with the execution of terrorists in Israeli prisons through emergency regulations, and the permanent imposition of sovereignty over large areas in the Gaza Strip."

Hamas says Israel is pushing things back to 'square one'
1:56 PM
°®Âþµº Staff & Agencies

Hamas said on Monday that Israel is trying to push things back to square one by asking to extend the first phase of their Gaza ceasefire agreement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Sunday it had adopted a proposal by US President Donald Trump's envoy for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza for the Ramadan and Passover periods, hours after the first phase of the previously agreed deal expired.

"The occupation is pushing to return things to square one and overturn the agreement through the alternatives it is proposing," senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said in a televised statement.

(Reuters)

Gaza aid 'must not be blocked': UK PM's office
1:33 PM
°®Âþµº Staff & Agencies

Aid for Gaza "must not be blocked", the office of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday, renewing calls for a "sustainable ceasefire".

"We've been clear that aid must get into Gaza, so it must not be blocked," a spokesperson for Starmer's office said, after an Israeli decision on Sunday to stop supplies entering war-ravaged Gaza as talks on a truce extension appeared to hit an impasse.

Israel continues attack on Jenin for 42 days
1:00 PM
°®Âþµº Staff

The Israeli army is continuing its assault in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, for 42 consecutive days.

A three-month-old suffocated from tear gas fired by the Israeli army at the entrance to Jenin refugee camp, continuing to block all entrances to the camp - Wafa reports.

The soldiers withdrew from the Al-Rabee building near the camp and repositioned themselves at other locations.

Palestinian detainee dies in Israeli prison
12:33 PM
°®Âþµº Staff

A 41-year-old Palestinian detainee from Jenin died in Israeli prison in February, Wafa reports.

Khaled Mahmoud Qasim Abdullah, from Jenin refugee camp, died in Israel’s Megiddo Prison, who was held under administrative detention since 9 November 2023.

The Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) reported that Adbullah is the third detainee to die in the past week, bringing the total number of detainees killed in Israeli prison to 61, whose identities are known, since October 2023.

At least 40 of the prisoners are from Gaza, making it the highest number recorded.

Israel minister slams Oscar win for Gaza documentary
12:08 PM
°®Âþµº Staff & Agencies

Israeli Culture Minister Miki Zohar on Monday decried a "sad moment for cinema" after an Oscar win for "No Other Land", a documentary about Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank.

The film, which was directed by Israeli-Palestinian activists, won the best documentary award at Sunday's Academy Awards.

"Instead of presenting the complexity of our reality, the filmmakers chose to echo narratives that distort Israel's image in the world," Zohar said in a post on X.

Israel army says struck motorised vessel off Khan Younis
11:31 AM
°®Âþµº Staff & Agencies

Israel's army said it struck on Monday a "suspicious motorised vessel" off the coast of south Gaza's Khan Younis, the day after Israel blocked aid to the Palestinian territory during an impasse over extending the truce.

"Earlier today, a suspicious motorised vessel off the coast of northern Khan Yunis...was struck by the (military)", the army said in a statement. It said troops also "identified two suspects approaching them in southern Gaza, posing an immediate threat", before they "opened fire toward the suspects to remove the threat, and hits were identified".

Berlin urges Israel to 'immediately' stop blocking Gaza aid
11:04 AM
°®Âþµº Staff & Agencies

Germany on Monday urged Israel to "immediately" stop blocking aid flowing into war-ravaged Gaza, after Israel made the move as talks on a truce extension appeared to hit an impasse.

"Unimpeded access for humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip must be guaranteed at all times," foreign ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer told a press briefing. "Granting or denial of humanitarian access is not a legitimate means of pressure in negotiations."

Haifa attacker was Druze recently returned from abroad
10:33 AM
°®Âþµº Staff & Agencies

Israel's police said the perpetrator of a stabbing attack in the northern city of Haifa on Monday was a member of Israel's Druze Arab minority who recently returned from abroad.

"The terrorist, an Israeli Druze resident of Shfaram, had spent recent months abroad and returned to Israel last week", the police said in a statement.

Israeli police say Haifa attacker ‘neutralised’
10:00 AM
°®Âþµº Staff

Israeli police have "neutralised" the attacker in the Haifa attack that killed at least one person and injured at least five, Al Jazeera reports.

The police are reportedly "handling the incident".

1 killed and 5 wounded in stabbing and shooting attack
9:30 AM
°®Âþµº Staff & Agencies

A 70-year-old was killed and five other people were wounded in a stabbing attack Monday in the northern Israeli city of Haifa. Israeli authorities said the assailant was killed.

The attack took place in a bus station, Israeli police said. It was not immediately clear who killed the attacker, whose identity was not immediately known.

Earlier, Eli Bin, head of emergency rescue service Magen David Adom, had told Israeli media that four people were wounded in the stabbing attack and another was critically wounded by gunfire.

Israel police say casualties in suspected shooting in Haifa
9:00 AM
°®Âþµº Staff & Agencies

Israeli police said on Monday that multiple casualties were reported in a suspected shooting attack in the northern city of Haifa.

Israel's ambulance service said six people were wounded, including two who were in a critical condition.

(Reuters)

Two Palestinians killed in Israeli drone fire in Rafah
8:30 AM
°®Âþµº Staff & Agencies

Two Palestinians were killed in Israeli drone fire in the central area of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, medics and Gaza media said on Monday.

(Reuters)

Israeli-Palestinian film, No Other Land, wins Oscar
8:00 AM
°®Âþµº Staff & Agencies

No Other Land," a film about Israeli displacement of a Palestinian community, won the documentary feature film Oscar on Sunday, and its directors appealed to the world to help end Israel's war and accused the United States of blocking a solution.

The film's co-directors, Palestinian activist Basel Adra and Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, spent five years making the film, which shows Israeli soldiers tearing down homes and evicting residents to create a military training ground and the encroachment of Israeli settlers on the Palestinian community.

"'No Other Land' reflects the harsh reality that we have been enduring for decades and still resist as we call on the world to take serious actions to stop the injustice and to stop the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people," Adra said on taking the stage.

Standing beside his co-director, Abraham added: "We made this film, Palestinians and Israelis, because together our voices are stronger. We see each other, the atrocious destruction of Gaza and its people which must end, the Israeli hostages brutally taken in the crime of October 7, which must be freed."

(Reuters)

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