TEL AVIV (Dispatches) -- The Israeli regime on Sunday approved a bill allowing the military to call up an additional 400,000 reserve soldiers amid delays in the start of negotiations for the second phase of a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement.
The Zionist regime stopped the entry of humanitarian aid into the war-torn territory, just hours after the expiry of the first phase of a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal.
Israeli Channel 14 said the decision came amid fears of renewed fighting in the Gaza Strip.
Under the new decision, the Israeli occupation army will be able to mobilize up to 400,000 reserve soldiers by May 29, representing an increase of 80,000 soldiers compared to the previous order which approved a maximum mobilization of 320,000 reserve soldiers, the broadcaster said.
“This decision comes amid ongoing challenges in recruiting human resources for reserve duty,” the channel said.
The first six-week phase of the ceasefire agreement, which took effect on January 19, officially ended at midnight on Saturday. However, the Zionist regime has not agreed to move forward to the second phase of the deal to bring an end to the war in Gaza.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had sought to extend the initial exchange phase to secure the release of as many Israeli captives as possible without offering anything in return or fulfilling the military and humanitarian obligations of the agreement.
The Palestinian resistance group Hamas has refused to proceed under these conditions, insisting that Israel abide by the terms of the ceasefire and immediately start negotiations for the second phase, which includes a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a complete halt to the war.
The ceasefire agreement has halted Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which has killed more than 48,380 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and left the enclave in ruins.
The approximately 2.4 million inhabitants of the besieged territory have been displaced in their entirety, living in catastrophic conditions.
During the first phase of the ceasefire, more than 1,700 Palestinian prisoners were released in exchange for 25 living Israeli captives and eight deceased ones.
An estimated 10,000 Palestinian prisoners remain in Israeli custody, while 59 Zionists are held in Gaza.
A third phase of the ceasefire is expected to be devoted to reconstructing Gaza, a project the UN estimates will cost over $53 billion.
The Israeli military is planning to remain in Gaza and exert “tighter control” of the strip, according to a plan presented by Zionist authorities to the UN and aid organizations, The Guardian reported. 
The plan calls for Israeli forces to distribute aid supplies through “tightly managed logistics hubs” to vetted recipients in the Gaza Strip, sources from aid organizations told the British paper.
The proposal was presented to the UN and aid groups during meetings with the Israeli military’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) on Wednesday and Thursday.
COGAT representatives said that these so-called humanitarian hubs, also known as “humanitarian bubbles,” would be gradually expanded and could be operated by private security contractors. The report added that they would be located in areas under full Israeli army control.
The plan would allow entry into Gaza only through the Israel-controlled Kerem Shalom border crossing, while the southern Rafah crossing with Egypt, Gaza’s traditional door to the outside world, would be permanently closed.
According to the planned framework, all non-governmental organizations allowed to operate in Gaza would have to be registered in Israel and have their staff vetted. This would prevent UNRWA, the UN agency primarily responsible for providing aid to Palestinians, from operating in Gaza.
COGAT officials presented the plan to the UN and aid agency officials as a total fact, claiming they enjoyed full U.S. support in implementing it.
In a summit held last Friday, representatives from Egypt, Jordan, and the Persian Gulf states adopted an Egyptian plan for the post-war governance and reconstruction of Gaza.
“The COGAT plan is meant to be a spoiler, an alternative to the Arab plan,” an aid worker in Al-Quds told The Guardian.
On Sunday, Gaza’s civil defense agency reported Israeli artillery shelling and tank fire near the southern city of Khan Younis.
“Artillery shelling and gunfire from Israeli tanks targeted the border areas of Abasan al-Kabira town, east of Khan Younis city, in the southern Gaza Strip,” the agency said in a statement.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his 
former war minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
Extremist Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich on Sunday called for “opening the gates of hell” on the Gaza Strip after the decision to halt humanitarian aid to the besieged Palestinian enclave.
“The decision we made last night to completely halt humanitarian aid to Gaza until Hamas is destroyed or completely surrenders and all our hostages are returned is an important step in the right direction,” Smotrich, the leader of the Religious Zionism Party, said in a statement.
Describing the move as the “threshold of the gates of hell,” he added: “Now we need to open those gates as quickly and lethally as possible on the cruel enemy, until absolute victory.”
On Saturday, thousands of settlers rallied in Tel Aviv to demand the Zionist regime continue the Gaza ceasefire and the exchange of Israeli captives with Palestinians prisoners.