How Israel repeatedly violated the Gaza ceasefire before breaking it completely
Israel’s renewed attacks on the Gaza Strip have killed over 400 people since dawn on Tuesday.
The Israeli military has carried out countless air strikes across the besieged Palestinian enclave, unravelling the ceasefire it agreed with Hamas in January.
However, this is not the first violation of the ceasefire agreement, which aimed to release Israeli captives in return for an end to the war on Gaza.
Middle East Eye details some of the ways Israel has violated the fragile truce before unilaterally resuming the conflict altogether.
Since the ceasefire in Gaza went into force on 19 January and until Tuesday’s surprise attack, Israel killed 155 Palestinians in sporadic strikes and attacks on the enclave, Gaza’s government media office has said.
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One of its recent strikes on northern Gaza killed nine people, including aid workers for a UK-based charity and journalists working with the group.
Hamas had called the attack an “escalation” and a “deliberate sabotage of any opportunity to complete the [ceasefire] agreement's implementation”.
Ceasefire talks stalling
Gaza’s ceasefire deal was divided into three phases, with the first phase having ended over two weeks ago.
Israel and Hamas have so far been unable to agree on a way forward into the second phase, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused of refusing to fully withdraw Israeli troops from Gaza, a key part of the second phase.
Israel had also previously refused to state in writing that it would not resume hostilities following the end of the first phase.
The second phase would have seen steps taken to make the ceasefire permanent and secure the release of the remaining 59 Israeli captives, with less than half believed to still be alive.
Israel, along with US envoy and mediation leader Steve Witkoff, proposed an extension of the first phase.
Witkoff had threatened over the weekend that Hamas would “pay a severe price” if it did not release all captives immediately.
Reports have indicated that Israel has actively shunned talks to permanently end the war, and a person familiar with US-Israeli talks told The Financial Times that US President Donald Trump “won’t care if the war restarts”.
Israel insists on having more captives released in the first phase. The ceasefire agreement states that the first phase would be extended if talks for the second phase begin but does not state anything about captive releases.
End of humanitarian aid, electricity supply
After Hamas refused the extension of the first phase of the ceasefire, Israel blocked all humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza Strip on 2 March.
The blockade was heavily condemned by mediating states Egypt and Qatar, as well as the United Nations, as one of the ceasefire’s key objectives was to increase much-needed flows of aid for the two million Palestinians living in the enclave.
Qatar said Israel was committing “a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement” and international humanitarian law.
On 9 March, Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen ordered the halt of electricity supplies to Gaza, which affected the entire enclave, but particularly a desalination plant producing drinking water for part of the enclave.
Hamas condemned the move, describing it as part of Israel’s “starvation policy”.
Israel was already reportedly sending fewer aid trucks than what was agreed upon in the ceasefire and had at times blocked the entry of temporary shelter, tents and heavy machinery needed to clear rubble.
With the war seemingly back in full force, Israel is now facing criticism over its decision to resume its deadly operations, with the families of Israeli captives saying the government has abandoned them.
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