The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on Monday underlined its commitment to the US-backed deal, denounced Israel’s continued violations of the agreement and renewed its call on mediators to act to block the deal, a month after it was signed.
Hamas points out that these violations have been occurring almost since the agreement was signed, as reflected in Israeli attacks that killed 271 Palestinians and injured 622, detained dozens, destroyed homes, closed the Rafah crossing, and vetoed the United Nations Palestine Refugee Agency (UNRWA) or restricted humanitarian assistance.
Of the agreed 600 trucks, Hamas said, “Actual humanitarian aid does not exceed 40% of the total number of trucks that entered the country in the first month, which corresponds to less than 200 trucks per day,” and explained that a similar situation was occurring with regard to fuel deliveries.
“Fuel is essential for the restoration of livelihoods, enabling us to run hospital generators, open roads, operate transportation and restore infrastructure,” the Palestinian group said in a statement on its website.
Hamas also accused Israel of denying entry to heavy equipment essential to clearing debris and recovering bodies. Nevertheless, he stressed that they had agreed to hand over the bodies of the hostages still in Gaza as part of the agreement.
The Palestinian organization recalled that in the first 72 hours after the signing of the agreement, 20 Israeli hostages were handed over alive, and that it had since done the same for another 24 bodies, continuing “intense efforts” to find the remaining four bodies.
An official statement said Hamas had “successfully recovered 24 of the 28 bodies” and “provided the coordinates of the locations of other bodies in areas under occupation control,” and also condemned attempts by Israel to restart the conflict.
“The occupied political, military and security leaders continue to publicly agitate on an almost daily basis for a resumption of war and disregard for the terms of the agreement, which is a gross disregard for the international community and a defiance of world leaders,” the group said.
Finally, Hamas called on the international community to act against Israel’s interests by not respecting the plan, most notably by strict compliance with the agreement, the unrestricted provision of humanitarian aid and fuel, the opening of several border crossings, and the delivery of supplies needed to operate the Gaza power plant.