TEHRAN – The Israeli occupation regime has killed Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip despite agreeing to a ceasefire.
Israeli occupation forces on Tuesday killed at least nine Palestinian civilians in the northern Gaza district of Shujaya and near the southern city of Rafah, in violation of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
Occupation regime drones also dropped explosives east of Deir Bala in central Gaza, causing further injuries.
In addition to the dead, regime forces also arrested 15 people in Nasr, a town northeast of Rafah, according to local media reports.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the occupation regime had openly violated the Gaza ceasefire agreement by killing civilians across the Gaza Strip.
Mr. Qassem confirmed that Hamas is closely monitoring the implementation of the terms of the agreement, in particular the handover of the bodies of captured Israeli soldiers captured by the armed forces, the Al-Qassam Brigades.
On Monday, the regime also ended a three-day ceasefire. Hebrew media has confirmed that occupation forces have resumed attacks in the Gaza Strip, killing seven Palestinians and injuring several others.
This escalation occurred despite the fact that on October 10, the Israeli cabinet approved the Gaza ceasefire agreement, which calls for an immediate and complete cessation of fighting and the exchange of prisoners.
As part of the first phase of the agreement, Palestinian resistance forces in the Gaza Strip handed over 20 prisoners alive to an international Red Cross team on October 13. In return, the administration released about 2,000 Palestinian hostages the same day as part of the same agreement.
Hamas announced on Wednesday, October 15, that it had handed over the bodies of four prisoners, and is expected to hand over more bodies in the coming hours and days, according to diplomatic and intelligence sources.
In another violation of the cease-fire agreement, regime officials announced the closure of the Rafah crossing, which is vital for bringing much-needed aid to the besieged Palestinian territory, despite promises to Hamas to surge humanitarian aid to at least 600 trucks per day.
Footage on Tuesday showed a long line of trucks waiting in Egyptian territory opposite the Rafah crossing. Their entry is blocked by the occupying regime.
Gaza’s media chief called on the Israeli regime to open borders and allow aid to the enclave “immediately”.
“The suffering faced by the people of Gaza over the past two years will continue even after the war ends. Once the crossings are opened, priority will be given to the sick and injured,” he said, adding: “There are 250,000 tons of waste in the Gaza Strip, which constitutes an environmental disaster.”
“A lot of machinery was destroyed in the war, so we need heavy machinery to dispose of the waste,” he said.
The occupation government cites the slow release of dead prisoners as the reason for the low number of trucks entering Gaza. U.S. officials and other signatories to the cease-fire agreement had expected Hamas not to immediately hand over the dead prisoners.
During negotiations to implement the cease-fire agreement, Hamas informed mediators that it would take time to search for all the dead prisoners, many of whom were killed in Israeli airstrikes, and their guards. This account was also endorsed by US President Donald Trump.