DaysofPal – Israel has imposed new limits on humanitarian aid entering the besieged Gaza Strip and will keep the Rafah crossing closed, raising fears of worsening conditions in the enclave as Israeli forces killed at least nine Palestinians in separate attacks. The moves come just days after a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect.
The United Nations confirmed on Tuesday that Israel informed its agencies it will allow only 300 aid trucks per day into Gaza starting Wednesday, half the number it had previously approved.
According to Olga Cherevko, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Gaza, the Israeli notice was sent by the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the military body that oversees aid operations.
The COGAT letter also stated that no fuel or gas would be permitted into Gaza except for limited humanitarian infrastructure. Local relief workers warned that such restrictions would leave famine conditions unchanged. “Three hundred is not enough. It’s not going to change anything,” one aid official said.
Israeli authorities further announced that the Rafah crossing with Egypt, Gaza’s main gateway to the outside world, will remain closed until further notice, undermining hopes of increased aid access during the ceasefire period.
The restrictions came as Israeli forces killed at least nine Palestinians in fresh assaults across the territory. Medical sources reported that six people were killed in Gaza City and three others in Khan Younis. Staff at al-Ahli Arab Hospital said five Palestinians were killed in the Shujayea neighborhood when Israeli troops opened fire.
The Israeli military claimed its forces acted in response to a “threat” from individuals approaching them in northern Gaza.
The violence threatens to derail the first phase of a ceasefire agreement brokered under US President Donald Trump’s proposal to end Israel’s two-year war on Gaza. According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, the conflict has killed at least 67,913 people and wounded more than 170,000 since October 2023, with thousands more still buried beneath the rubble.
At least 1,139 people were killed in Israel during Hamas’s October 7 attack, and more than 200 others were taken captive.
As part of the ceasefire deal, Hamas and Israel carried out a major prisoner exchange on Monday: nearly 2,000 Palestinians detained in Israel were released in return for 20 Israeli captives held in Gaza. Another 154 Palestinian prisoners were exiled to Egypt.
Hamas was also scheduled to return the remains of 28 deceased Israeli captives but initially delivered only four coffins, saying the recovery of others was delayed due to extensive destruction across Gaza.
On Tuesday, the group handed over four more bodies to the International Committee of the Red Cross, which later confirmed their transfer to Israel.
The Israeli military accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire terms, while Trump took to his Truth Social platform to declare, “THE DEAD HAVE NOT BEEN RETURNED, AS PROMISED! Phase Two begins right NOW!!!”
Observers warned that Israel’s new restrictions on aid could mark a turning point. “The headline here is that Israel is already starting to restrict aid going into Gaza over what they say is Hamas’s delay in returning the bodies of deceased captives,” Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo reported from the UN headquarters in New York.
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