MUGHRAQA, Gaza Strip: Israeli forces withdrew from a key corridor in Gaza on Sunday, Israeli officials and Hamas said, the latest commitment under a tenuous ceasefire that faces a major test over whether the sides can negotiate its planned extension.
Israelis’ shock at the sight of three emaciated hostages released Saturday has added pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend the truce instead of returning to fighting when the ceasefire’s first phase ends in early March.
Israel and Hamas appear to have made little progress on negotiating the deal’s second phase, which is meant to extend the ceasefire and lead to the release of more Israeli hostages held by Hamas. Talks had been due to start on Feb. 3.
Netanyahu was sending a delegation to Qatar, a key mediator, but it included low-level officials, sparking speculation that it won’t lead to a breakthrough. Netanyahu is also expected to convene key Cabinet ministers this week.
The 4-mile (6-kilometer) Netzarim corridor separating northern and southern Gaza had been used by Israel as a military zone during the 16-month war, but no troops were seen in the vicinity Sunday. As the ceasefire began last month, Israel began allowing hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians to cross Netzarim and return to the north.
Separately on Sunday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said two women, one of them eight months pregnant, were killed by Israeli gunfire in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli troops have been carrying out an operation.
The ceasefire’s extension is not guaranteed
The ceasefire that began on Jan. 19 has held, raising hopes that the war that led to seismic shifts in the Middle East may be headed toward an end.
But it remains fragile. On Sunday, civil defense first responders in Gaza said three people were killed by Israeli fire east of Gaza City. Israel’s military noted “several hits” after warning shots were fired and again warned Palestinians from approaching its forces.
Cars heaped with belongings headed north through a road that crosses Netzarim. Under the deal, Israel should allow cars to cross uninspected.
The Israeli officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss troop movement with the media, did not say how many soldiers withdrew or to where. Troops remain along Gaza’s borders with Israel and Egypt.
Hamas spokesperson Abdel Latif Al-Qanoua said the troops’ withdrawal showed the militant group had “forced the enemy to submit to our demands” and that it thwarted “Netanyahu’s illusion of achieving total victory.”
Israel has said it won’t agree to a complete withdrawal from Gaza until Hamas’ military and political capabilities are eliminated. Hamas says it won’t hand over the last hostages until Israel removes all troops from the territory.
During the 42-day first phase of the ceasefire, Hamas is gradually releasing 33 Israeli hostages captured during its Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war in exchange for the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and a flood of humanitarian aid to Gaza. The deal also stipulates that Israeli troops will pull back from populated areas.
In the second phase, all remaining living hostages would be released in return for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and “sustainable calm.” But details beyond that are unclear.
Trump’s Gaza proposal poses a challenge
Families of hostages gathered Sunday in Tel Aviv to again urge Netanyahu to extend the ceasefire. “We know that for a year, that they are dying there, so we need to finish this deal in a hurry,” said Ayala Metzger, the daughter-in-law of hostage Yoram Metzger, who died in captivity.
But Netanyahu is also under pressure from far-right political allies to resume the war after the first phase so that Hamas, which carried out the deadliest attack on Israelis in their history, can be defeated.
Complicating things further is a proposal by US President Donald Trump to relocate the population of Gaza and take ownership of the Palestinian territory. Israel has expressed openness to the idea while Hamas, the Palestinians and much of the world have rejected it outright.
The suggested plan has moral, legal and practical obstacles. It may have been proposed as a negotiation tactic by Trump to pressure Hamas or make an opening gambit in discussions aimed at securing a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
That deal appeared to be rattled on Sunday as Saudi Arabia condemned remarks by Netanyahu who said Palestinians could create their state there.
Saudi Arabia said his remarks “aim to divert attention from the successive crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against our Palestinian brothers in Gaza, including the ethnic cleansing they are being subjected to.”
Qatar on Sunday called Netanyahu’s comments “provocative” and a blatant violation of international law.
The war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’ attack that killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostage, has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not differentiate between fighters and noncombatants in their count. Vast parts of the territory have been obliterated.
Violence in the occupied West Bank
Violence has surged in the West Bank throughout the war and has intensified in recent days with an Israeli military operation in the territory’s north.
The shooting of the pregnant woman, Sundus Shalabi, happened in the Nur Shams urban refugee camp, a focal point of Israeli operations against Palestinian militants. The Palestinian Health Ministry said another woman, Rahaf Al-Ashqar, 21, was also killed.
Israel’s military said its police had opened an investigation.
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Sunday the expansion of the operation, which started in Jenin several weeks ago. He said it was meant to prevent Iran from establishing a foothold in the West Bank.
Israeli forces withdraw from key Gaza corridor as concerns mount over extending ceasefire
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Israeli forces withdraw from key Gaza corridor as concerns mount over extending ceasefire
Trump signals possible sanctions relief for Syria
“We are going to have to make a decision on the sanctions, which we may very well relieve. We may take them off of Syria because we want to give them a fresh start,” Trump told journalists at the White House prior to departing on a trip to the Middle East.
Syria’s authorities, who toppled longtime president Bashar Assad in December, are working to rebuild the country’s infrastructure and economy after almost 14 years of devastating conflict.
The new government has been pushing for Assad-era sanctions to be removed to revive the country’s battered economy and support reconstruction.
Syria’s foreign ministry welcomed Trump’s remarks and said it “considers them an encouraging step toward ending the suffering of the Syrian people.”
The foreign ministry statement said Assad-era sanctions “directly target the Syrian people and hinder the recovery and reconstruction process.”
Syrians “look forward to the full lifting of sanctions as part of steps that support peace and prosperity in Syria and the region, and open the possibility for constructive international cooperation,” the statement added.
Some countries have said they would wait to see how the new authorities exercise their power and ensure human rights are respected before lifting sanctions, opting instead for targeted and temporary exemptions.
A February United Nations Development Programme report estimated that at current growth rates, Syria would need more than 50 years to return to the economic level it had before its devastating civil war, and called for massive investment to accelerate the process.
UN says found 225 arms caches since Israel-Hezbollah truce
- The Lebanese army has been deploying in the south as Israeli forces have withdrawn and has been dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure there
- Israel’s military still carries out regular strikes in Lebanon, saying it is targeting Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure
BEIRUT: The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon said Monday that since a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah it had uncovered more than 225 weapons caches in the south and referred them to the army.
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem urged Lebanon’s government and the international community to act “more effectively” to make Israel comply with the November truce, which largely ended more than a year of hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed group, including two months of all-out war.
Under the deal, Hezbollah was to withdraw its fighters north of Lebanon’s Litani River and Israel was to pull all its forces from south Lebanon, however it has kept troops in five areas it deems “strategic.”
The Lebanese army has been deploying in the area as Israeli forces have withdrawn and has been dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure there.
Since the November 27 truce began, “peacekeepers have found over 225 weapons caches and referred them” to the Lebanese army, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon said in a statement.
UNIFIL also has a seat on the ceasefire monitoring committee, alongside truce sponsors France and the United States, and the Israeli and Lebanese governments.
“With UNIFIL support,” Lebanon’s army has “redeployed to more than 120 permanent positions south of the Litani,” the peacekeeping force said.
“Full (army) deployment is hindered by the presence of Israeli forces in Lebanese territory,” it added.
Israel’s military still carries out regular strikes in Lebanon, saying it is targeting Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure.
The ceasefire deal was based on a UN Security Council resolution that says Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only forces in south Lebanon, and that calls for the disarmament of all non-state groups.
Border positions
Hezbollah’s chief said on Monday that Lebanon and Hezbollah had fulfilled their commitments under the ceasefire, and the army has deployed in south Lebanon, “while Israel has not withdrawn, has not stopped its attacks.”
In a televised speech, Qassem said that “Israel wants to end the resistance,” referring to Hezbollah.
Israel “thinks that continuing its pressure and aggression could lead to the political end of the resistance,” he said, adding: “This will not happen.”
After heavy Israeli strikes in the Nabatiyeh area of south Lebanon last week, Qassem said Israel was “playing with fire.”
He urged the Lebanese state and ceasefire sponsors Paris and Washington to act “more effectively” and to let Israel and its backers “know that we will not submit to threats and pressure.”
He also called for swift efforts toward reconstruction.
President Joseph Aoun said last month the Lebanese army was now deployed in more than 85 percent of the south and that the sole obstacle to full control across the frontier area was “Israel’s occupation of five border positions.”
Lebanese authorities have vowed to implement a state monopoly on bearing arms, though Aoun has said disarming Hezbollah is a “delicate” matter that requires dialogue.
Hezbollah, long a dominant force in Lebanon, was heavily weakened in its latest war with Israel.
UN chief welcomes release of US Israeli hostage by Hamas
- Antonio Guterres renews his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza
- Militant group agreed to release soldier as gesture of goodwill to President Trump
NEW YORK CITY: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the release of Edan Alexander, a US Israeli dual national who was taken hostage during the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.
The militant group said on Sunday it would release Alexander, 21, as part of efforts to reach a ceasefire with Israel.
Alexander was believed to be the last living US hostage held in Gaza.
Guterres “is profoundly relieved that Mr. Alexander has been freed and is now returning to his family and loved ones after this harrowing ordeal,” the secretary-general’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said on Monday.
“The secretary-general renews his urgent call for an immediate permanent ceasefire, and the immediate and unconditional release of all remaining hostages. Hostages must be treated humanely and with dignity,” he added.
Alexander’s parents, who live in the US, traveled to Israel for the handover, and said they were grateful to the administration of US President Donald Trump for securing their son’s release.
Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said on Sunday that Hamas had agreed to release Alexander as a gesture of goodwill to the president, who is making a high-profile visit to Saudi Arabia this week.
Alexander, an Israeli soldier who grew up in New Jersey, was abducted from his military base during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
In his statement, Guterres called on all parties to “immediately ensure the rapid, unhindered, and safe humanitarian relief, including the delivery of critical services, for all civilians in need.
“Aid is not negotiable,” he added.
The secretary-general praised the “sustained efforts” of mediators Egypt, Qatar and the US to bring an end to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
All parties must “build on today’s release to reach a comprehensive agreement that will ensure the release of all hostages, an end to the hostilities, the provision of humanitarian aid and the long-overdue alleviation of the human suffering in Gaza,” he added.
Hamas had been in direct contact with the US government over the release, said Khalil Al-Hayya, a senior leader of the militant group in Gaza.
He added that Hamas is ready to “immediately start intensive negotiations” to secure a long-term truce with Israel.
The militant group said in a statement: “The Izz Ad-Din Al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas’ military wing) released the captured Israeli soldier, Edan Alexander, a US citizen, a short while ago, following contacts with the US administration.
“This comes as part of the efforts being made by mediators to achieve a ceasefire, open the crossings, and allow aid and relief to reach our people in the Gaza Strip.”
Population of Occupied Palestinian Territories grows tenfold since Nakba, despite Israeli atrocities
Population of Occupied Palestinian Territories grows tenfold since Nakba, despite Israeli atrocities
- 77 years after the ‘catastrophe,’ the number of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip stands at 5.5 million
- Number of Palestinians in Gaza down by 10 percent since October 2023 as a result of ongoing war between Israel and Hamas
LONDON: The population of the Occupied Palestinian Territories has increased tenfold since 1948, the year in which the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” displaced almost a million Palestinians from their homes to neighboring Arab countries, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics said that 957,000 people out of a population of 1.4 million were displaced by Israeli militias, many of them to other countries, some to Gaza and the West Bank, during the establishment of modern-day Israel 77 years ago this month.
The remainder, about 450,000, were already in Gaza and the West Bank, where the population now stands at 5.5 million. This represents more than a tenfold increase since the Nakba, which Palestinians commemorate on May 15 each year.
Ola Awad, the president of the bureau, said: “The atrocities of Zionist forces (in 1948) also included more than 70 massacres in which more than 15,000 Palestinians were martyred.”
According to the bureau’s statistics, Israeli forces destroyed 531 Palestinian towns and villages during the Nakba. A further 200,000 people were displaced from the occupied territories to neighboring countries by the Six-Day War in June 1967, which led to the occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and the Syrian Golan Heights.
Awad said the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which began in October 2023, has reduced the Palestinian population in the occupied territories by 10 percent, as more than 52,000 people have been killed and thousands displaced.
The statistics bureau said that since 1948, an estimated 154,000 people have been killed in the occupied territories or Arab countries as a result of Israeli attacks or armed clashes. The majority were Palestinian, but some were citizens of other Arab countries. Nearly 34 percent of them lived Gaza and were killed in the past two years.
UN says found 225 arms caches since Israel-Hezbollah truce
- “Full (army) deployment is hindered by the presence of Israeli forces in Lebanese territory,” UNIFIL said
BEIRUT: The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon said Monday that since a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah it had uncovered more than 225 weapons caches in the south and referred them to the army.
The November truce largely ended more than a year of hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed group, including two months of all-out war.
Under the deal, Hezbollah was to withdraw its fighters north of Lebanon’s Litani River and Israel was to pull all its forces from south Lebanon, however it has kept troops in five areas it deems “strategic.”
The Lebanese army has been deploying in the area as Israeli forces have withdrawn and has been dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure there.
Since the November 27 truce began, “peacekeepers have found over 225 weapons caches and referred them” to the Lebanese army, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon said in a statement.
UNIFIL also has a seat on the ceasefire monitoring committee, alongside truce brokers France and the United States, and the Israeli and Lebanese governments.
“With UNIFIL support,” Lebanon’s army has “redeployed to more than 120 permanent positions south of the Litani,” the peacekeeping force said.
“Full (army) deployment is hindered by the presence of Israeli forces in Lebanese territory,” it added.
Israel’s military still carries out regular strikes in Lebanon, saying it is targeting Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure.
The ceasefire deal was based on a UN Security Council resolution that says Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only forces in south Lebanon, and that calls for the disarmament of all non-state groups.
President Joseph Aoun said last month the Lebanese army was now deployed in more than 85 percent of the south and that the sole obstacle to full control across the frontier area was “Israel’s occupation of five border positions.”
Lebanese authorities have vowed to implement a state monopoly on bearing arms, though Aoun has said disarming Hezbollah is a “delicate” matter that requires dialogue.
Hezbollah, long a dominant force in Lebanon, was heavily weakened in its latest war with Israel.
