DaysofPal – Hazem Qassem, spokesperson for the Hamas Movement, said that Israeli occupation shut the Rafah crossing on Monday and failed to allow in the agreed-upon aid, accusing it of systematically violating existing understandings.
Qassem added that the Israeli closure of the Rafah border crossing on Monday has completely halted the evacuation of patients from the Gaza Strip and intensified an already dire humanitarian situation.
Qassem called on the Peace Council and international mediators to pressure the Israeli occupation to abide by the ceasefire arrangements and reopening commitments.
“Israel is pursuing a clear policy of engineered starvation in the Gaza Strip,” Qassem said.
He added that rising prices of basic goods are a direct result of Israeli measures that deepen hunger in the Strip, alongside ongoing violations through shelling and killing, including attacks reported at dawn on Monday.
He argued that this systematic policy of Israeli violations requires a genuine stance from mediators, guarantor states, and the so-called Peace Council to put a real end to these Israeli breaches and to lift the blockade on Gaza after two years of Israeli genocide.
Earlier on Monday, Gaza’s General Authority for Crossings and Borders announced that the Israeli occupation had fully closed the Rafah crossing, in southern Gaza, stopping all medical evacuation operations abroad.
In a brief statement, the authority confirmed that the evacuation of patients has come to a halt as a result of the Israeli closure.
Since limited operations at Rafah resumed, around 700 patients have been able to leave Gaza for treatment abroad, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
However, more than 18,000 patients and wounded people are still waiting for medical evacuation, many of them in critical condition.
The latest shutdown is not the first of its kind, as Israeli occupation has previously closed the crossing for extended periods, exacerbating the suffering of those waiting to travel for urgent medical care amid a growing number of cases requiring immediate treatment outside the Strip.
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