The United Nations confirmed that it had received a letter stating that Israel would cut in half the number of aid trucks scheduled to enter Gaza, numbering about 600, which it had promised to allow to pass after the ceasefire. As of Wednesday 15 October, Israel had only allowed 300 aid trucks in.

Israel is still restricting aid to Gaza

Deputy Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General Farhan Haq said at a press conference on Tuesday 14 October that the Israeli Government Coordination Unit in the Palestinian Territories had informed the UN in a letter received today that it would halve the number of humanitarian aid trucks going to Gaza, on the pretext that Hamas had not returned the bodies of Israeli prisoners.

He added:

We are aware of the contents of the letter from the Israeli Civil Administration.

Haq explained that they want as much aid as possible to reach Gaza, saying:

We call on all parties to abide by their agreements, including the return of the bodies of dead prisoners and the implementation of the remaining terms of the ceasefire, including the delivery of humanitarian aid.

US media reported that Israel had sent a letter to the United Nations stating that it would reduce the number of daily aid trucks agreed under the terms of the ceasefire in Gaza from 600 to 300, on the grounds that Hamas had not immediately returned the bodies of Israeli prisoners trapped under the rubble.

However, as of 15 October Hamas had been handing over Israeli bodies – yet the Zionist entity had still not opened all the crossings into Gaza. As of 10pm BST, reports stated only the 300 aid trucks had gone in. This was specifically due to Israel not opening the Rafah crossing.

The ‘ceasefire’

On Monday, Hamas released 20 living Israeli prisoners and handed over the bodies of four others, saying it needed time to recover the bodies of 24 others. On Tuesday evening, the Israeli army received the bodies of four additional prisoners in the Gaza Strip from the Red Cross, according to official Hebrew media, bringing the total to eight. Then, on Wednesday Hamas handed over several more bodies – saying that was all the ones it could locate.

The Sharm El Sheikh summit was held on Monday, chaired by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Trump, at the conference centre in Sharm El Sheikh, with the participation of leaders from more than 20 countries.

The Egyptian presidency said that the ‘Sharm El Sheikh Peace Summit’ stressed the need to begin ‘consultations on ways and mechanisms to implement the next stages’ of US President Donald Trump’s plan.

The summit comes after a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel came into effect on Friday afternoon Jerusalem time, after being approved by the Tel Aviv government early that same day. On 9 October, Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had reached an agreement on the first phase of his plan for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange, following indirect negotiations between the two sides in Sharm El Sheikh, with the participation of Turkey, Egypt and Qatar, and under US supervision.

With US support, Israel has committed genocide in Gaza since 8 October 2023, leaving 67,913 dead and 170,134 wounded, most of them children and women, and a famine that has claimed the lives of 463 Palestinians, including 157 children.

Featured image via the Canary

By Alaa Shamali

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