GAZA (Palestine Foundation Information Center) Leader in the Hamas Movement Sami Abu Zuhri said that the Israeli ground operation and the military vehicles advancement toward the Netzarim axis, cutting off the northern Gaza Strip from its southern part, will completely destroy the ceasefire agreement.
Abu Zuhri emphasized that the mediators must assume their responsibilities before the agreement collapses completely, stressing that the resistance is ready to respond to the Israeli move.
The Hamas leader explained that the mediators’ failure to pressure the Israeli occupation to start the second phase negotiations threatens the entire agreement.
The Palestinian resistance in Gaza will not hand over Israeli captives unless the Israeli occupation commits to an end to hostilities, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and the lifting of the blockade.
Earlier Wednesday, Israeli troops have retaken the Netzarim Corridor that split Gaza in half, restricting Palestinians’ movement, after withdrawing last month as part of the ceasefire deal.
The Israeli military said its ongoing escalation in Gaza, which has already killed at least 436 people, is intended to create a “partial buffer” in the territory.
In a post on X, the military wrote that over the past 24 hours, its forces “have begun a focused ground operation in the center of the Gaza Strip and in the south with the aim of expanding the security area and creating a partial buffer between the north and south of the Strip.”
It added that as part of the operation, Israeli forces retook control of the Netzarim Corridor, from which they had withdrawn in February under phase one of the ceasefire.
Local sources reported that the joint Egyptian-Qatari-American security committee withdrew from the vicinity of the checkpoint on Salah al-Din Street.
The sources explained that traffic was almost completely halted along Salah al-Din Street, east of the central Gaza Strip, with the withdrawal of the security committee and its members due to the Israeli escalation.
The Israeli-established corridor separates northern Gaza from the south.
