UN chief calls for Gaza aid to be restored 'immediately'

UN chief Antonio Guterres called on Sunday for Israel to end its suspension of humanitarian aid to Gaza "immediately."

"The Secretary-General urges all parties to make every effort to prevent a return to hostilities in Gaza. He calls for humanitarian aid to flow back into Gaza immediately and for the release of all hostages," said a statement from the UN posted on X.

Mediator Egypt, the Red Cross and the UN have all appealed for the truce to be maintained.

"There is no alternative to the faithful and full implementation by all parties of what was signed last January," Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said. He called for the European Union to exert pressure on the parties "especially the Israeli" side.

Following the announcement of the aid suspension, AFP images showed trucks loaded with goods lined up on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing to Gaza.

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, whose party is crucial to keeping Netanyahu's government in power, welcomed the decision to suspend aid.

According to Israel, the truce extension would see half of the hostages still in Gaza freed on the day the deal came into effect, with the rest to be released at the end if an agreement was reached on a permanent ceasefire.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem later said Israel "bears responsibility for the consequences of its decision on the people of the Strip and the fate of its prisoners".

Its allied militant group, Islamic Jihad, accused Israel of "sabotaging" the ceasefire.

Of the 251 captives taken by Hamas during its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, 58 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military has confirmed are dead.

On Sunday, Israeli mourners who turned out to farewell Shlomo Mansour, 85, whose body had been held in Gaza, said more should be done to get the remaining captives home.

"Return all of them immediately and then think about what to do," said Vardit Roiter. Mansour's was among four bodies that militants handed over on Thursday under the truce's first phase.

They were among a total of eight bodies and 25 living hostages Hamas handed over under the initial phase, in exchange for the release of about 1,800 Palestinian prisoners.

The aid suspension comes as Palestinians in Gaza, alongside much of the Muslim world, mark the second day of the holy month of Ramadan, during which the faithful observe a dawn-to-dusk fast.

In November, a UN-backed assessment found "a strong likelihood that famine is imminent" within northern Gaza.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Sunday called such warnings "a lie during all this war."

Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians, while Israel's retaliation in Gaza killed more than 48,300 people, also mostly civilians, data from both sides show.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose country is Israel's top military supplier, on Saturday said he signed a declaration "to expedite" delivery of about $4 billion in military assistance to Israel.

Abu Mohammed Al Basyuni, 56, had a message for America: "Enough bias towards one party," he said among debris in Gaza City.

"As a people, we have the right to life and the right to coexist. Animals have rights. What about humans?"