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cease-fire
Rubio Touts Trump's Steadfast Support for Israel as it Blocks Aid to Gaza
Israel is being investigated for alleged genocide at the International Court of Justice, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a fugitive from the International Criminal Court.
Mar 04, 2025
In a Tuesday phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio highlighted the Trump administration's staunch support for Israel—which includes $4 billion in fresh fast-tracked military assistance—even as the key Mideast ally cuts off lifesaving humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the flattened Gaza Strip.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce summarized Rubio's call with the right-wing Israeli leader, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza:
Rubio spoke with... Netanyahu to underscore that the United States' steadfast support for Israel is a top priority for President [Donald] Trump, as shown by the recent announcement to expedite the delivery of nearly $4 billion in military assistance to Israel. The secretary thanked the prime minister for his cooperation with Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to help free all remaining hostages and extend the cease-fire in Gaza. The secretary also conveyed that he anticipates close coordination in addressing the threats posed by Iran and pursuing opportunities for a stable region.
Rubio's call with Netanyahu, which followed the Republican secretary of state's visit to Israel last month, came just two days after Netanyahu's government halted all humanitarian aid from entering Gaza. People there are reeling after 15 months of Israeli bombardment, invasion, and siege that have obliterated the coastal enclave, killing at least 48,405 Palestinians, wounding more than 111,000 others, and forcibly displacing, starving, or sickening nearly all of the strip's approximately 2.3 million people, according to local and international agencies.
Netanyahu said the aid suspension was carried out "in full coordination with President Trump and his people."
On Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened that "the gates of hell will be opened" on Gaza if Hamas, which rules the strip, does not free the dozens of Israeli and international hostages it kidnapped on October 7, 2023. Hamas has delayed their release due to what it claims are hundreds of Israeli violations of a January cease-fire agreement, including deadly attacks on civilians and the aid cutoff.
Katz, Netanyahu, and other Israeli leaders are among those named in an incitement to genocide complaint filed in January at the ICC by Israeli attorney Omer Shatz. Israel is also under investigation for alleged genocide at the International Court of Justice.
Bruce's description of the Rubio-Netanyahu call does not mention the Palestinians or Gaza.
Last month, Trump
proposed a U.S. invasion and takeover of Gaza, which would be ethnically cleansed of Palestinians and transformed into what the president described as "the Riviera of the Middle East."
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Israel Threatens to Open 'Gates of Hell' on Gaza to Force Hamas Hostage Release
"If Israel resumes its assault on Gaza, the Trump administration will own it—this is the legacy of its unconditional support for Israeli aggression," said one advocacy group.
Mar 03, 2025
As Israeli officials warned Monday of dire repercussions if Hamas did not release the remaining hostages it holds in Gaza, advocacy groups decried reporting that Israel is planning to obliterate a crumbling six-week cease-fire with a massive escalation against the already flattened Palestinian enclave.
Addressing the Knesset, Israel's Parliament, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamnin Netanyahu said Hamas, which governs Gaza, will face "consequences they cannot imagine" should it fail to free the dozens of Israeli and international hostages it kidnapped on October 7, 2023.
"We are preparing for the next stages of the war—on seven fronts," Netanyahu claimed, adding that "we will not stop until we achieve total victory—returning all our hostages, destroying Hamas' military and governing power, and ensuring Gaza is no longer a threat to Israel."
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz was even more blunt, vowing that "if Hamas does not release the hostages soon, the gates of Gaza will be locked, and the gates of hell will be opened—we will return to fighting, and they will face the [Israel Defense Forces] with forces and methods they have never encountered before."
These comments followed Sunday reporting by Israeli public broadcaster Kan that Israel is readying what it calls a "hell plan" to re-invade Gaza, renew the forced expulsion of its residents, and cut off the remaining water and electricity supply to a people already reeling from a 15-month onslaught and siege that's left most of Gaza in ruins; more than 170,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing; and over 2 million others displaced, starved, or sickened, according to local and international agencies.
"The latest reports of Israel preparing to resume its aggression against Gaza represent yet another blatant retreat from the original cease-fire terms that had been agreed upon by both parties," the Virginia-based advocacy group Americans for Justice in Palestine (AJP) Action said in a statement Monday.
The group continued:
The original agreement, established to halt 15 months of Israeli aggression and genocide, facilitated the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, increased humanitarian aid, and initiated a partial Israeli troop withdrawal. However, the proposed extension of the first stage of the cease-fire by U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, aiming for a temporary truce over Ramadan and Passover, has been met with complications. Witkoff's new unreleased plan deviates from the framework negotiated for deescalation. Instead, it sets the stage for Israel to further entrench its occupation, siege, and genocide with full U.S. complicity and partnership.
Under Witkoff's proposal, Hamas would free half of its living hostages and the bodies of half of those who were killed or died since their abduction. Israeli officials say Hamas still has 59 hostages, 24 of whom are believed to still be alive.
"This moment directly results from the Trump administration's reckless and deliberate policy choices," AJP Action stressed. "[U.S. President Donald] Trump and his officials not only emboldened Israel's most extreme elements but also dismantled even the pretense of a U.S. commitment to a just resolution. If Israel resumes its assault on Gaza, the Trump administration will own it—this is the legacy of its unconditional support for Israeli aggression."
Israel's fresh threat came after it halted all humanitarian aid from entering Gaza following a Saturday decision by the country's Security Council, a move Hamas blasted as a "war crime" and cease-fire violation. Netanyahu claimed the cutoff was made "in full coordination" Trump and "his people."
United Nations Children's Fund Middle East and North Africa Director Edouard Beigbeder warned Monday that "the aid restrictions announced yesterday will severely compromise lifesaving operations for civilians."
"It is imperative that the cease-fire—a critical lifeline for children—remains in place, and that aid is allowed to flow freely so we can continue to scale up the humanitarian response," Beigbeder added.
Children and families across Gaza are struggling to survive without enough food, medicine or shelter. “The ceasefire must hold, and more aid must be allowed in to prevent further suffering and loss of life.” - Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF MENA Regional Director. Details: unicef.link/41kLyr7
[image or embed]
— UNICEF (@unicef.org) March 3, 2025 at 7:07 AM
However, a source familiar with ongoing cease-fire negotiations toldThe Jerusalem Post Monday that "nothing is currently moving on this front."
On the ground in Gaza, Palestinians continue to endure tremendous hardships—last week, local medical professionals said six infants died of hypothermia—including skyrocketing prices on essential items in scarce supply.
"Often, I find myself weighing up whether I should buy food items or buy blankets for sleeping," Hikmat al-Masri, a 44-year-old professor from Beit Lahia, toldThe Guardian Monday. "Both options are difficult and expensive."
Hassan Musa, a forcibly displaced father of eight from northern Gaza, told the British newspaper that "to subject innocent people to the deprivation of aid and to threaten them with cutting off water and food supplies is the height of injustice and criminality."
"Prices are rising without logic, making financial planning for the family nearly impossible," he added. "Even the aid we used to receive has stopped, which increases the fears of a return of famine to the north, after we thought we had overcome it."
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At Least 6 Gaza Babies Die From Hypothermia Amid Israeli Blockade
"Newborns should not be dying of hypothermia in Gaza," said one campaigner. "This is not a tragedy of nature but a man-made crisis."
Feb 25, 2025
Local medical professionals said Tuesday that at least half a dozen babies have died this week in Gaza amid winter weather and Israel's ongoing blockade of the obliterated Palestinian enclave, where hundreds of thousands of people are living in tent encampments and other unheated makeshift structures.
Dr. Saeed Salah, the medical director at Patients' Friends Benevolent Society Hospital in Gaza City, told reporters that three infants died on Monday and three more on Tuesday from complications due to exposure to the cold.
"In the past two weeks, we admitted eight newborns suffering from severe cold injuries," Salah said. "Three of them died within hours of arrival. They were only a day or two old, weighing between 1.7 and 2 kilograms (3.7-4.4 lbs.)."
"All of these children arrived with low temperatures, shortness of breath, and cold extremities that reached the point of freezing," Salah toldThe Washington Post by phone Tuesday. "These children live with their families in tents and destroyed homes and suffer from a lack of supplies that help provide them with the necessary warmth, especially with the Israeli intransigence in bringing in the necessary fuel."
Gaza experiences cold, wet, and windy winters, with temperatures often dipping well below 50°F (10°C) at night. Hypothermia can be deadly at temperatures over 60°F (15°C) in overexposed conditions such as those existing in Gaza, where the overwhelming majority of the strip's 2.3 million residents have been forcibly displaced, most homes have been destroyed or damaged, and bodies have been weakened from more than 500 days of an Israeli siege for which the country is facing genocide charges at the International Court of Justice.
The sixth reported infant death of the week was of 2-month-old Sham Yousef al-Shanbari, who died in her family's tent in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
"Her body turned into a piece of ice... and her heartbeat stopped," uncle-in-law Obaida al-Shanbari told the Post by phone Tuesday.
Yusuf al-Shanbari, Sham's father, toldThe Associated Press: "Yesterday, I was playing with her. I was happy with her. She was a beautiful child, like the moon."
(Warning: The following video contains images of death.m)
Dr. Ahmed al-Farah, the head of the pediatric department at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, told the AP that al-Shanbari did not have any illness but died from exposure because she lived in a tent. Al-Farah also said the hospital has treated two other infants for frostbite.
At least three Palestinian infants died from exposure to cold conditions earlier this winter, when Israeli forces were still carrying out their assault on Gaza that left more than 170,000 people dead, wounded, or missing.
Hamas, whose political wing rules the Gaza Strip, has accused Israel of violating the terms of a fragile monthlong cease-fire, not only by killing and wounding Palestinian civilians and postponing a scheduled prisoner release, but also by delaying the delivery of mobile homes, tents, and other lifesaving humanitarian aid. Israeli officials deny the allegations.
"If adequate aid, including shelter supplies, were allowed to reach civilians and hospitals, these deaths would be entirely preventable."
"Newborns should not be dying of hypothermia in Gaza. This is not a tragedy of nature but a man-made crisis," Fikr Shalltoot, Gaza director for the London-based charity Medical Aid for Palestinians, told the Post.
"If adequate aid, including shelter supplies, were allowed to reach civilians and hospitals, these deaths would be entirely preventable," Shalltoot added. "This suffering is the direct result of Israel's restrictions on essential humanitarian aid."
Edward Ahmed Mitchell, deputy executive director at the Washington, D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in a statement Tuesday: "The Israeli government's genocidal campaign in Gaza has left most of its population homeless. To block the entry of temporary housing so that returning Palestinians, including infants, die of exposure is entirely unconscionable."
"The Trump administration and the international community must take immediate action to force the Israeli government to allow desperately needed housing supplies to enter Gaza," Mitchell added.
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