Israel imposes new Gaza aid restrictions, keeps Rafah crossing closed
Israeli forces kill several Palestinians in Gaza as the Israel-Hamas ceasefire comes under growing strain.
Trucks carry aid for Palestinians, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza [Ramadan Abed/Reuters]
By Abby Rogers and News Agencies
Published On 14 Oct 2025
Israel has imposed new restrictions on aid entering the besieged Gaza Strip and will not open the Rafah crossing as planned, while Israeli forces killed at least nine people in the Palestinian territory as the Israel-Hamas ceasefire came under growing strain.
Israel notified the United Nations on Tuesday that it will only allow 300 aid...
aljazeera.com
Hamas hands over hostage bodies after Israel threatens aid cut
Hamas hands over hostage bodies after Israel threatens aid cut
By Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Maayan Lubell
October 14, 20256:10 PM CDTUpdated 3 hours ago
- Israel to restrict aid and keep border shut at least through Wednesday
- Hamas fighters execute men in the street
- Trump says Hamas must disarm or be disarmed, perhaps violently
CAIRO/JERUSALEM, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Hamas handed over more bodies of deceased hostages to Israel on Tuesday, one sign of progress after a number of apparent setbacks in the day since U.S. President Donald Trump touted his plan to end the Gaza war.
The bodies were returned after Israel announced it would cut in half the number of humanitarian aid trucks allowed into Gaza in a move to punish Hamas for what Israel called the militant group's violation of its agreement to transfer remains under the ceasefire deal reached last week.
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Meanwhile, re-emergent Hamas fighters demonstrated they were reasserting control in Gaza by deploying hundreds of security forces in the streets and executing several people they accused of collaborating with Israel.
The outlook for Trump's peace plan darkened further when the president threatened Hamas with military strikes unless the militant group disarmed.
"If they don't disarm, we will disarm them. And it will happen quickly and perhaps violently," Trump said at the White House, one day after he spoke before the Knesset in Jerusalem.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has maintained the war cannot end until Hamas surrenders its weapons and cedes control of Gaza, a demand the fighters have rejected.
On Monday, Trump proclaimed the "historic dawn of a new Middle East" to Israel's parliament, as Israel and Hamas were exchanging the last 20 living Israeli hostages in Gaza for nearly 2,000 Palestinian detainees and prisoners.
But the return of 28 dead hostages has remained one of the final details to be worked out in the deal to end more than two years of hostilities that began with Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023. Hamas has now handed over eight coffins of dead hostages, leaving at least 19 presumed dead and one unaccounted for still in the Gaza Strip.
On Tuesday, the Israeli military said it received four coffins from the Red Cross at a meeting point in northern Gaza Strip. Those coffins, escorted by Israeli forces, crossed the border into Israel shortly before midnight (2100 GMT) and were being taken for forensic identification, the Israeli military said.
Hamas also confirmed the transfer was under way.
“At this moment, the men are continuing to oversee the implementation of what was agreed upon regarding the handover of bodies as part of the agreement to end the war in Gaza,” Hamas spokesperson in Gaza Hazem Qassem on Facebook.
It was not immediately clear if the handing over of bodies was sufficient for Israel to restore a full complement of aid deliveries.
Israeli officials said they had decided to restrict aid, allowing only half the agreed number of aid trucks into Gaza starting Wednesday, and to delay plans to open the southern border crossing to Egypt because Hamas had violated the ceasefire deal by failing to turn over bodies of hostages.
Israel's two-year assault has left much of the enclave in ruins and Gaza City and surrounding areas are suffering from a famine that has afflicted more than half a million Palestinians, creating great need for an expected 600 aid trucks to enter Gaza daily during the ceasefire.
Plans have yet to be implemented to open the crossing to Egypt to let some Gazans out, initially to evacuate the wounded for medical treatment.
HAMAS ASSERTS CONTROL
Hamas, which seized Gaza in a brief 2007 civil war, has swiftly reclaimed the streets of Gaza's urban areas following the partial withdrawal of Israeli troops last week. Gaza residents said Hamas fighters were increasingly visible on Tuesday, deploying along routes needed for aid deliveries.
In a video circulated late on Monday, Hamas fighters dragged seven men with hands tied behind their backs into a Gaza City square, forced them to their knees and shot them from behind, as dozens of onlookers watched from nearby storefronts.
A Hamas source confirmed that the video was taken on Monday and that Hamas fighters participated in the executions. Reuters was able to confirm the location by visible geographic features.
Trump has previously given his blessing to Hamas to reassert some control of Gaza, at least temporarily. Israeli officials have so far refrained from commenting publicly on the re-emergence of the group's fighters.
Palestinian security officials said dozens of people had been killed in clashes between Hamas fighters and rivals in recent days.
In addition Israel, using aerial drones, killed five Palestinians as they went to check on houses in a suburb east of Gaza City, and an Israeli airstrike killed one person and injured another near Khan Younis, Gaza health authorities said.
Hamas accused Israel of violating the ceasefire. The Israeli military said it had fired on people who crossed truce lines and approached its forces after ignoring calls to turn back.
Hamas sources told Reuters on Tuesday the group would tolerate no more violations of order in Gaza and would target collaborators, armed looters and drug dealers.
The ceasefire has stopped two years of devastating warfare in Gaza triggered by the October 7, 2023 attack in which Hamas-led gunmen killed around 1,200 people and took 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel's military has killed at least 67,000 people in Gaza according to local health authorities, with thousands more feared dead under the rubble. Gaza's Civil Defence Service said 250 bodies had been recovered since the truce began.
Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo and Maayan Lubell and Pesha Magid in Jerusalem; Additional reporting by Emma Farge in Geneva and Yomna Ehab and Menna Alaa El Din in Cairo; Writing by Angus McDowall, Peter Graff, Jonathan Allen and Daniel Trotta; Editing by Ros Russell, Mark Heinrich and David Gregorio
reuters.com
Noa Shpigel
7 hours ago
Israel's Smotrich vows 'there will be Jewish settlement in Gaza' despite cease-fire deal
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich vowed on Tuesday night that "there will be Jewish settlement in Gaza," despite a cease-fire deal and a U.S.-brokered agreement that does not include such plans.
At an event celebrating the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah in southern Israel's Sderot, near the Gaza Strip border, Smotrich said, "There will be no Hamas in Gaza, no threat to Israeli civilians from Gaza for decades. There will be Jewish settlement in Gaza, because without long-term settlement, there is no security."
He added, "We have patience, determination, and faith, and with God's help we will continue the series of victories and miracles God has done with us, and achieve a full victory here as well… a victorious winter of settlement and security for Sderot."
As he spoke, the crowd chanted "Gush Katif," referring to a group of Jewish settlements dismantled during Israel's 2005 disengagement from Gaza.
haaretz.com
Y aniv Kubovich, Jonathan Lis
7 hours ago
'No crisis' between Israel and Hamas despite hostages' bodies' late return, diplomat says
A foreign diplomat involved in the Israel-Gaza cease-fire talks told Haaretz that currently there is "no crisis" between Israel and Hamas regarding hostages' bodies.
"Israel took into account that there would be difficulty in locating some of the bodies under the rubble when it signed the agreement," he said.
Drafts of the agreement and leaders had said all hostages, living or dead, would be released within the first 72 hours of the cease-fire. However, as of Tuesday night, only eight bodies out of 28 are likely in Israeli custody, with four currently positively identified as hostages and four unidentified.
haaretz.com |
