RAMALLAH, March 2 (KUNA) -- The Palestinian Resistance Movement (Hamas) said Sunday that the Israeli occupation government is attempting to evade, break the ceasefire agreement in Gaza Strip, including the resumption of negotiations for the second phase of the agreement.
A statement by the group said, "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decision to ban all humanitarian aid is cheap blackmail, a war crime, and a blatant coup against the agreement." The statement added, "mediators and the international community must take action to pressure the Israeli occupation and stop its punitive and immoral measures against more than two million people in the Gaza Strip." The statement also noted, "Netanyahu is trying to impose new political reality on the ground and seeks to overturn the signed agreement to serve his narrow internal political calculations at the expense of prisoners in Gaza and their lives." The statement added, "allegations by the terrorist occupation regarding the movement's violation of the ceasefire agreement are misleading and baseless allegations, and a failed attempt to cover up its daily and systematic violations of the deal, which led to the martyrdom of more than a hundred Palestinians in Gaza, in addition to disrupting the humanitarian agreement, preventing the entry of shelter and relief supplies, and deepening the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza." The movement stressed that behavior of the Israeli occupation "clearly violates what was stated in Article 14 of the agreement, which stipulates that all procedures related to the first phase continue in the second phase and that the guarantors will do their utmost to ensure that the negotiations continue until an agreement is reached on the terms for implementing the second phase." The movement renewed its commitment to implementing the signed agreement in its three phases, stressing that it had repeatedly announced its readiness "to begin negotiations for the second phase of the agreement." The group also called on mediators to pressure the Israeli occupation to implement its obligations under the agreement in all its phases, implement the humanitarian protocol, and bring in shelter and rescue equipment to the Gaza Strip.
Earlier, the Israeli occupation decided to ban the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza Strip after the end of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement. (end) nq.mb