Hamas and Israel have accused each other of violating the October ceasefire deal and preventing progress towards implementation of the United States peace plan in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas has criticised Israel for carrying out near-daily strikes and assassinating Raed Saad, a senior Hamas commander in Gaza, on Saturday.
Tel Aviv has argued Hamas has been rearming and has not handed over the remains of Ran Gvili, the last of 28 Israeli bodies it had been holding in Gaza since the October 7th, 2023, attack on Israel which killed 1,200 people and left 251 hostages in Hamas hands.
Hamas has said Gvili’s remains have not been located, but Israel has said the movement knows where they are and is stalling.
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Hamas’s Qatar-based Gaza chief Khalil al-Hayya stated: “The continued Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement ... and latest assassinations that targeted Saed and others threaten the viability of the agreement.”
While Hamas has ceased fire, Israel has conducted 800 attacks on Gaza, killing nearly 400 Palestinian and wounding 980, according to the enclave’s health ministry.
Israeli figures show humanitarian aid entering Gaza averages 460 truckloads of supplies, well below the 600 specified in the ceasefire agreement. About half of the trucks deliver humanitarian aid while the other half carry commercial products.
Since Israel has banned operations by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) caring for Palestinian refugees, the World Food Programme has assumed the primary role of distributing aid in Gaza.
Israel came under pressure in August to allow stipulated humanitarian aid into Gaza after the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a UN-backed global hunger monitor, reported famine in northern Gaza, including Gaza City.
Phase one of the October truce called for a cessation of hostilities and the return of living Israeli captives, Palestinian prisoners and the remains of the dead on both sides. It also called for humanitarian aid to enter the enclave freely.
While captives and prisoners have been exchanged, Israel has not met its phase-one commitments by halting its attacks and ending restrictions on aid. This means phase two of the ceasefire deal cannot begin.
The second phase involves total withdrawal of the Israeli army which occupies 53 per cent of Gaza, Hamas disarmament and deployment of the international stabilisation force.
It also involves the renunciation by Hamas of its administrative role, allowing a Palestinian committee to assume governance under the oversight of a peace board led by US president Donald Trump.
The failure to complete phase-one requirements suits both sides and the US.
Israel is seeking to use military and humanitarian means to weaken and destabilise Gaza while Hamas is stalling on disarmament, insisting it has the right to bear arms until there is a Palestinian state in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Fearing clashes with Hamas fighters, no countries have agreed to contribute troops for the US-led stabilisation force, which is supposed to deploy in early January.
