Israel army says struck motorised vessel off Gaza's Khan Yunis

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel's army said it struck on Monday a "suspicious motorised vessel" off the coast of south Gaza's Khan Yunis, the day after Israel blocked aid to the Palestinian territory during an impasse over extending the truce.

"Earlier today, a suspicious motorised vessel off the coast of northern Khan Yunis... was struck by the [military]", the army said in a statement. It said troops also "identified two suspects approaching them in southern Gaza, posing an immediate threat", before they "opened fire toward the suspects to remove the threat, and hits were identified".

A stabbing Haifa on Monday left one person and the attacker dead, authorities said, in the first such fatal attack since the Gaza ceasefire began in January.

The attack came one day after Israel blocked aid to the Gaza Strip during an impasse over extending the truce in the Palestinian territory.

The six-week first phase of the truce ended at the weekend. It had enabled the entry of vital food, shelter and medical assistance to Gaza. The Israeli decision prompted the United Nations to call for an immediate restoration of the aid.

Monday's attack happened at a bus and train station in Haifa, a large coastal city in the north, home to a mixed Jewish and Arab population.

After the Gaza war began on October 7, 2023, repeated attacks -- often involving knives -- killed or wounded people in Israel. Authorities often blamed "terrorists", a term they use for incidents linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Until Monday, the Gaza truce had coincided with a halt to such attacks within Israel, as violence largely subsided in Gaza after more than 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas.

Hamas's attack that sparked the Gaza war resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people in Israel, while Israel's military retaliation in Gaza has killed more than 48,300 people, also mostly civilians, data from both sides show.

Truce mediators Egypt and Qatar accused Israel of blatantly violating the ceasefire deal by halting aid, a move which according to AFP images left trucks loaded with goods lined up on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing to Gaza.

The truce also saw the exchange of prisoners and hostages between Israel and Hamas.

Of the 251 captives taken during Hamas's attack, 58 remain in Gaza including 34 the Israeli military has confirmed are dead.

Early on Sunday Israel had announced a truce extension until mid-April that it said United States Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff had proposed.

But Hamas has repeatedly rejected an extension, instead favouring a transition to the truce deal's second phase that could bring a permanent end to the war.

With uncertainty looming over the truce, both Israel and Palestinian sources on Sunday reported Israeli military strikes in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, whose health ministry reported at least four people killed.

Hamas said the "decision to suspend humanitarian aid is cheap blackmail, a war crime and a blatant coup against the (ceasefire) agreement".

'Consequences' 

Jordan, mediators Egypt and Qatar, along with Saudi Arabia, denounced Israel's aid decision.

The European Union condemned what it called Hamas's refusal to accept the extension of the first phase, and added that Israel's subsequent aid block "risked humanitarian consequences".

Brussels called for "a rapid resumption of negotiations on the second phase of the ceasefire".

Gazans expressed concern over prices they said immediately surged.

The war in Gaza destroyed or damaged most buildings, displaced almost the entire population and triggered widespread hunger, according to the UN.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Sunday he had "decided that, from this morning, all entry of goods and supplies into the Gaza Strip will be suspended".

It said there would be "consequences" for Hamas if it did not accept the temporary truce extension.

Under the first phase of the truce, Gaza militants handed over 25 living hostages and eight bodies, in exchange for about 1,800 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

In Jerusalem late Sunday, AFP images showed protesters outside Netanyahu's residence calling on their government to make a deal that would bring home the remaining Israeli hostages.

Netanyahu's critics in Israel have regularly blamed him for delays throughout the months of truce negotiations.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the leader of the far-right faction in Netanyahu's governing coalition, has threatened to quit if the war is not resumed.

The prime minister is also on trial for corruption charges, which he denies, and on Monday appeared in court to testify in the case, video images from the court showed.