Tel Aviv's cutting off aid to Gaza attempt to force Trump's hand

Despite the strong opposition of the United Nations and other humanitarian aid providers, in an alarming move that the UN warns violates international law, Israel unilaterally cut off the entry of all food and other goods into Gaza on Sunday.

The move, which came the moment the first phase of the ceasefire ended, pushed the more than 2 million Palestinians residing in the Gaza Strip to the brink of famine.

To divert attention from it being the party walking away from the hard-earned three-phase ceasefire agreement, Israel has said it supports what the Benjamin Netanyahu government calls a new United States' proposal to extend the first phase of the ceasefire through the Jewish holiday of Passover in mid-April instead of beginning negotiations on the far more difficult second phase.

Under that proposal, Hamas would release half the hostages on the first day and the rest when an agreement is reached on a permanent ceasefire.

The US administration has not issued any statement about Israel's announcement, and as of Monday it had kept a studied silence over Israel's decision to cut off aid. According to media reports, US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff had been expected to visit the Middle East again last week, but that visit never materialized and it is not clear when he will visit the region.

So it is with the seeming connivance of the US that Tel Aviv warned it could resume the attacks on Gaza after the first phase if it believes the negotiations are ineffective.

The negotiations on the second phase were meant to start a month ago, increasing the uncertainty around the fragile truce. Although Hamas has insisted that those talks begin, Israel has tried to find fault with the militant group's execution of the first phase — as well as the UN — in a bid to delay the second phase negotiations or find an excuse to abruptly end the ceasefire process.

Israel has blamed the shortages of humanitarian assistance in Gaza on what it called the UN's inability to distribute it, and accused Hamas militants of siphoning it off.

But the reason why Israel has exhausted all means to prevent the second phase is that once it starts, its withdrawal from Gaza will be put on the agenda under international scrutiny, which is against the Netanyahu Cabinet's war goals that have remained unchanged since day one: to remove Hamas from Gaza, and annex the Palestinian enclave in whatever form. According to the agreement, in phase two, Hamas is to release the remaining living hostages in return for Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and a lasting ceasefire, making it the most crucial stage of the whole arrangement for the resolution of the Gaza crisis.

The US under the Joe Biden administration pressed Israel to allow more aid into Gaza, threatening to limit weapons support. But the incumbent President Donald Trump is proposing the displacing of all Palestinians from Gaza. Trump said last month shortly after Netanyahu's visit to the US that he is "committed to buying and owning Gaza" and turning it into the "Riviera of the Middle East".

Although Trump's proposal has stirred widespread criticism and is opposed by several Arab nations as well as the US' allies in Europe, Tel Aviv apparently takes that as evidence that Israel has succeeded in binding its interests with the US' under the new administration, thus heralding its Sunday move.

By cutting off the aid to Gaza, Netanyahu has in effect kicked the ball into Trump's court again.

As Chinese ambassador to the UN said in a recent UN Security Council meeting on the issue, the Gaza ceasefire agreement must be fully and continuously implemented to ensure a permanent ceasefire. In particular, provisions on access of humanitarian aid and release of detainees, among others, must be implemented strictly, seriously and in good faith.

In this process, the dignity of all, including the deceased, should be respected. Since negotiations on the second phase have been deferred, the international community should encourage and support the parties in moving ahead with the negotiations as soon as possible. In particular, countries with major influence on the parties should play a role to that end.