Following the announcement of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas over the weekend, Israeli forces have continued to kill Palestinians throughout Gaza and restrict the entry of food.
The events since the beginning of the “ceasefire” have made clear that the agreement merely marks a new phase in the ongoing US-Israeli ethnic cleansing and genocide in Gaza and war throughout the Middle East.
On Thursday, Israeli forces killed three Palestinians, following similar killings every day this week. On Tuesday, an Israeli drone strike killed five people in a residential area of Gaza.
Israel also carried out a series of airstrikes throughout Lebanon on Thursday, killing at least one person. In a statement, Lebanon’s president condemned the attack, calling it a “grave violation” of a ceasefire signed by Israel in November.
On Thursday, US President Donald Trump threatened further attacks against Gaza. Citing allegations of summary executions by Hamas, Trump threatened, “If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them.” He clarified, “Somebody will go in. It’s not going to be us.”
Earlier this week, Trump demanded that Hamas disarm, saying, “If they don’t disarm, we will disarm them. ... And it will happen quickly and perhaps violently.”
While the ceasefire agreement calls for 600 aid trucks to enter Gaza every day, Israel has slashed this target to half that amount. Israel has likewise refused to reopen the Rafah crossing, further choking off food aid.
“We note that the quantities that entered remain very limited, representing only a drop in the ocean of urgent needs, and they do not meet even the minimum humanitarian and livelihood requirements of more than 2.4 million people in the Gaza Strip,” Gaza’s government media office said.
Israeli forces continue to occupy more than half of the Gaza Strip, including all of Gaza’s border crossings.
In a statement, UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram called on Israel to “open all of the border crossings now, and they have to let all of the aid into the Gaza Strip at scale alongside commercial goods.” She added that “there are 28,000 children who were diagnosed with malnutrition in July and August alone, and thousands more since then. So, we need to make sure it’s not just food coming in, but malnutrition treatments as well.”
At least 463 people, including 157 children, have died of starvation or malnutrition in Gaza, and nearly one in four children is suffering from acute malnutrition.
In an editorial, the Wall Street Journal made clear that the aim of the “ceasefire” was merely to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas and could be the prelude to renewed mass military operations by Israel throughout Gaza. “This is why the agreement freed all the living hostages up front and kept Israeli forces at the ready in Gaza’s other half,” The newspaper wrote.
Officials in Gaza said that dozens of bodies they received from Israel showed signs of torture and summary mass executions.
Mohammed Zaqout, director of hospitals in Gaza’s Health Ministry, told Al Jazeera in an interview that bodies returned to Gaza by Israel show “clear signs of torture.” He added, “One body shows signs of hanging with a rope still wrapped around the neck, blindfolds around the eyes, and bound hands. That martyr was placed as is and sent to us.”
In a statement, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor wrote that it is “deeply shocked by the horrific condition of Palestinian bodies handed over by the Israeli army after being detained during the genocidal war on the Gaza Strip. Clear evidence shows that many of the victims were subjected to deliberate and brutal torture and abuse that caused extreme suffering, while several appear to have been executed after detention, constituting grave violations of international law.”
It added, “Medical examinations, forensic reports, and observations by the field team revealed conclusive evidence that many victims were killed after being detained. Their bodies bore clear marks of hanging, rope imprints around their necks, injuries from close-range gunfire, bound hands and feet with plastic restraints, and blindfolds. Some bodies were crushed under tank tracks, while others showed severe signs of physical torture, fractures, burns, and deep wounds.”
Stephane Dujarric, a spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said that reports that the bodies returned by Israel to Gaza show signs of torture “are extremely concerning.” She added, “There will need to be accountability for all the violations of international law we’ve seen during this conflict.”