Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Israel he said he would restrict aid Gaza and kept the enclave’s border closed on Tuesday as it re-emerged Hamas fighters demonstrated their control by executing men in the street, dimming the prospects for US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war.
The Israeli prime minister’s office confirmed late Tuesday that authorities have received four deceased hostages that the Red Cross handed over to Israeli military authorities inside Gaza.
The latest transfer of remains came a day after Israel received the bodies of four other dead hostages. Despite the development, it was unclear whether the Israeli military agency known as COGAT would stick with its decision to allow only half of the 600 aid trucks called for in the deal into Gaza.
The Israeli unit told the United Nations that it will only allow 300 aid trucks from Wednesday, and that no fuel or gas will be allowed in, except for specific needs related to humanitarian infrastructure, according to a note seen by Reuters and confirmed by the United Nations.
The note said the restrictions were taken because “Hamas violated the agreement on the release of the bodies of the hostages.”
“We have seen the COGAT communication, and we encourage all parties to adhere to the parameters and agreements set out in the ceasefire,” said Eri Kaneko, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
“We also hope that the remains of all deceased hostages will be returned and that the implementation of the ceasefire agreement will move forward.”
Trump said the second phase of the ceasefire agreement begins on Tuesday, but also pointed to the delay in handing over the deceased.
“THE DEAD HAVE NOT BEEN BACK, AS PROMISED! The second phase begins right now!!!” he said in a post on Truth Social.
Trump also warned Hamas that if “they don’t disarm, we will disarm them.”
Hamas, which seized Gaza in a brief civil war in 2007, quickly reclaimed the streets of Gaza’s urban areas after the partial withdrawal of Israeli troops last week.
In a video released late Monday, Hamas fighters dragged seven men with their hands tied behind their backs to a square in Gaza City, forced them to their knees and shot them from behind, while dozens of onlookers watched from nearby storefronts.
A Hamas source confirmed that the video was filmed on Monday and that Hamas fighters took part in the executions. Reuters was able to confirm the location using visible geographic features.
Delay in the delivery of the bodies
Trump previously gave his blessing to Hamas to reassert some control of Gaza, at least temporarily. Israeli officials have so far refrained from publicly commenting on the resurgence of the group’s fighters.
Get breaking national news
For news affecting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts sent directly to you as they happen.
On Monday, Trump proclaimed the “historic dawn of a new Middle East” to Israel’s parliament, as Israel and Hamas exchanged the last 20 Israeli hostages alive in Gaza for nearly 2,000 Palestinian detainees and prisoners.
Before the last hostages’ bodies were handed over to the Red Cross, Hamas had delivered four coffins of dead hostages, leaving at least 23 presumed dead and one unidentified, still in the Gaza Strip.
Obstacles to permanent peace
Gaza residents said Hamas fighters were increasingly visible on Tuesday, deploying along routes needed for aid deliveries. Palestinian security officials said dozens of people had been killed in clashes between Hamas fighters and rivals in recent days.
Meanwhile, Israel, using aerial drones, killed five Palestinians as they went to check houses in a suburb east of Gaza City, and an Israeli airstrike killed one person and wounded another near Khan Younis, Gaza health officials said.
Hamas accused Israel of violating the ceasefire. The Israeli army said it had fired on people who crossed the truce lines and approached its forces after ignoring calls to turn back.
A summit co-hosted by Trump in Egypt on Monday ended without any public announcement of major progress on establishing an international military force for Gaza or a new governing body.
Gaza City and its environs are suffering from a famine affecting more than half a million Palestinians, but aid trucks have not yet been allowed into Gaza at the full expected rate of hundreds per day. Plans to open passage to Egypt to let some Gazans out, initially to evacuate the wounded for medical treatment, have not yet been implemented.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has argued that the war cannot end until Hamas surrenders its weapons and cedes control of Gaza, a demand the fighters have rejected.
Hamas sources told Reuters on Tuesday that the group would not tolerate further violations of order in Gaza and would target collaborators, armed looters and drug traffickers.
The group, although badly weakened after two years of Israeli bombing and ground incursions, has been gradually reasserting itself since the ceasefire took hold.
It deployed hundreds of workers to begin clearing rubble from routes needed to access damaged or destroyed homes, and to repair broken water pipes. Security measures and road clearance will also be needed to increase aid delivery.
The ceasefire halted two years of devastating war in Gaza triggered by the October 7, 2023 attack in which gunmen led by Hamas killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostages in Gaza, according to Israeli records.
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed nearly 68,000 people according to local health authorities, with thousands more feared dead under the rubble. Gaza’s Civil Defense Service said 250 bodies had been recovered since the truce began.
Strips of Gaza are in ruins and the world hunger monitor said in August that there was hunger in the territory. Thousands of Gazans have returned to their homes since the ceasefire, many to find entire streets bombed to dust.
—Additional files from Global News and Associated Press
