Salama Maarouf, head of the government media office in the Gaza Strip, announced Tuesday evening that the Israeli army has killed 137 Palestinians since the ceasefire agreement went into effect on January 19, 2025.

Salameh said in a statement that the Israeli occupation "has deliberately increased its crimes against the Palestinian people over the past ten days, repeatedly violating the ceasefire agreement."

He continued: "The most recent of these crimes was the bombing of a group of citizens by Israeli warplanes in the central Gaza Strip, which resulted in the martyrdom of five of them, including two brothers, bringing the death toll since the ceasefire agreement took effect to 137."

An Israeli drone bombed Palestinian civilians in the Netzarim area, near the southeastern border of Gaza City, as they were standing near a destroyed house, killing five people, including two brothers.

This comes as part of a series of Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reneged on by refusing to move to its second phase, after the first phase expires at the end of March 1.

Netanyahu, who is subject to an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, wants to extend the first phase to secure the release of more Israeli prisoners from Gaza, without fulfilling the obligations of the second phase, particularly ending the war of genocide and fully withdrawing the Israeli army from the Strip.

With American support, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, leaving more than 160,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 14,000 missing.

Hamas insists on starting the second phase of the agreement, and considers Israel's decision to halt the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza since March 8 "cheap blackmail, a war crime, and a blatant reversal of the agreement."

Israel has transformed Gaza into the world's largest prison, blockading it for the 18th year. Approximately 1.5 million of its 2.4 million Palestinian citizens have been rendered homeless after their homes were destroyed by the war of extermination, amidst a deliberate and severe shortage of food, water, and medicine.

For decades, Israel has occupied territories in Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon, and refuses to withdraw from them and establish an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, along the pre-1967 borders.