'Ceasefire' is a hollow word - the killings and denial of aid continue

It has been nearly two months since a ceasefire came into effect in Gaza, and it's clear that it would more accurately be called a "reduce" fire, rather than a cessation.

- Nesrine Malik

Scores of people are still being killed; enough, in any other scenario, to be deemed both alarming and newsworthy. More than 100 people have died since 19 January, Gaza's civil defence service spokesperson says. Those killings constitute, alongside other breaches, a grim record of hundreds of reported ceasefire violations by the Israeli government.

The latest among them is Israeli authorities' decision to halt humanitarian aid into Gaza, in order to put pressure on Hamas to accept new ceasefire terms. In doing so, Israel is using food and civilian relief as a political tool to achieve its objectives, a move that the Qatari foreign ministry called "a clear violation" of the terms of the truce and of international humanitarian law.