Closing summary
We are now closing the live blog. Here is a summary of events today:
Hamas is to release three more hostages on Saturday in the sixth hostage-prisoner swap under a ceasefire deal with Israel. In exchange, Israel is expected to release 369 Palestinian prisoners and detainees on Saturday, Hamas said.
The three Israelis to be freed on Saturday are: Israeli-Argentinian Iair Horn, 46, Israeli-Russian Alexander (Sasha) Troufanov, 29, and Israeli-American Sagui Dekel-Chen. The Hostages Families Forum said on Friday that it welcomed the “joyous news” of the three men’s impending release.
A freed Israeli hostage said on Friday that Hamas militants starved and tortured him during captivity, as the Red Cross expressed concern over the condition of those still held in Gaza.“When I was in Gaza, I lived in constant fear, fear for my life and my personal safety,” Keith Siegel, an Israeli-American who was freed on 1 February, said in a video statement addressed to US president Donald Trump.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which has facilitated the ongoing hostage-prisoner swaps between Israel and Hamas, said on Friday it was “very concerned” about the condition of the remaining hostages held in Gaza. “The latest release operations reinforce the urgent need for ICRC access to those held hostage. We remain very concerned about the conditions of the hostages,” the Red Cross said in a statement on X.
Iran accused Israel on Friday of disrupting flights from Tehran to Beirut, after a decision barring two Iranian planes from landing in the Lebanese capital sparked protests. Israel has repeatedly accused Hezbollah of using Lebanon’s only airport to transfer weapons from Iran. Hezbollah and Lebanese officials have denied Israel’s claims.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio is expected to visit Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates soon to discuss the fragile Gaza ceasefire.
Saudi Arabia will host the leaders of four Arab countries at a summit on 20 February to discuss Donald Trump’s proposal for a US takeover of Gaza, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported, citing a source with knowledge of the preparations. Speaking on condition of anonymity, another source said the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, would also attend.
Fourteen Palestinian children, many with cancer, have been flown to Italy for medical treatment, the latest among dozens brought from Gaza after the Hamas-Israel war. The children and their families, a total of 45 people, were flown to Italy on an Italian military plane, and greeted at Rome’s Ciampino airport on Thursday evening by foreign minister Antonio Tajani.
Two Jerusalem booksellers detained this week on charges their books were causing “public disorder” have said the experience reflected an intensifying campaign by the Israeli government against Palestinian culture and free speech. Mahmoud Muna and his nephew Ahmed, whose family has owned the Educational Bookshop for more than 40 years, spent two days in detention and will remain under house arrest until Sunday, despite the absence of evidence to support the vague accusations against them.
Turkey will not allow terrorist organisations to take shelter in northern Syria and will not hesitate to take action in that regard, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said. The new Syrian administration under Ahmed al-Sharaa appears to be determined to fight those terrorist organisations, Erdoğan said, according to a transcript of his remarks to journalists on his return flight from a trip to Malaysia, Indonesia and Pakistan.
Turkey’s foreign minister Hakan Fidan and US counterpart Marco Rubio discussed Syria and Gaza during their first in-person meeting in Munich on Friday, a Turkish foreign ministry source said. Fidan called for the ceasefire in Gaza to be made permanent, Reuters reports.
Latest Israeli hostages to be freed are named with ceasefire’s future uncertain
Palestinian militant groups have provided the names of three hostages they plan to free on Saturday in return for the release of 369 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, raising hopes that the January ceasefire agreement will survive its latest crisis.
However, the longer-term prospects of the truce remain in doubt and the uncertainty has been deepened by the US president, Donald Trump, who made surprise territorial claims over Gaza. Saudi Arabia is reportedly planning to host a summit next week to try to agree an alternative plan for Gaza’s future, a week before an emergency Arab League meeting in Cairo to discuss the situation.
The hostages due to be released on Saturday have been named as Argentinian-born Iair Horn, a dual US-Israeli citizen, Sagui Dekel-Chen and a Russian-Israeli, Sasha Troufanov, who were all abducted from the Nir Oz kibbutz near Gaza in the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023 which ignited the war. Two of them were held by Hamas and one by Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The identities of the Palestinians due to be freed have not been published, but they are expected to include 333 Palestinians taken prisoner in Gaza since the start of the war and 36 inmates serving life prison sentences.
Read the full report here:
‘Time is running out’: frailty of freed hostages raises pressure on Netanyahu
Still frail less than a week after his release from Hamas captivity, and processing the news that his wife, Eynav, was killed during the militants’ attack on 7 October 2023, Or Levy told a crowd in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square that he had insisted his family and doctors allow him to come.
Israelis had been shocked and angered by the gaunt appearances of Levy, 34, Eli Sharabi, 52, and Ohad Ben Ami, 56, last Saturday as they were trooped on to a stage in Gaza City and forced to read out statements before being handed to the Red Cross. After nearly 500 days in captivity, all three appeared to struggle to see in the daylight, and were so weak that armed fighters had to help them walk.
“It was important for me to understand everything you’ve done and continue to do … I genuinely feel that you all played a part in giving me my life back,” Levy told the Tel Aviv crowd on Friday.
“I may be here, but I still have many brothers and sisters in the hell of Gaza, and their time is running out.”
You can read the full report here:
The Hostages Family Forum has provided images of the three Israeli hostages who are scheduled to be released on Saturday.
Iair Horn, Alexander (Sasha) Troufanov and Sagui Dekel-Chen were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, where around 80 of roughly 400 residents were taken hostage during the 7 October 2023 attack, the Associated Press reports.
Turkey’s foreign minister Hakan Fidan and US counterpart Marco Rubio discussed Syria and Gaza among other issues during their first in-person meeting in Munich on Friday, a Turkish foreign ministry source said.
Fidan told Rubio about Turkey’s views on measures that regional countries in the Middle East can take against Islamic State, the source said, adding he had also called for the ceasefire in Gaza to be made permanent, Reuters reports.
‘Who is Trump to decide our fate?’: takeover threat adds to uncertainty in Gaza
by Malak A Tantesh in Gaza and Julian Borger in Jerusalem
One month after the announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinians of Gaza have begun improvising a new life amid the wreckage of the old.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and Hamas are playing a game of nerves every week of the truce. On Saturday, all eyes will be on the expected release of three more hostages, according to the schedule laid down in the ceasefire agreement. If Hamas fails to deliver, Israel is threatening to go back to war with the same ferocity that turned cities into rubble over 15 months.
Now there is a new, unanticipated blot hanging over Gaza’s already clouded future. Every Palestinian here has heard about Donald Trump’s bizarre plan for the US to “own” Gaza, somehow empty the coastal territory of its 2.2 million people, and build a “Riviera of the Middle East” on their land. No one the Guardian talked to in Gaza treated the threat as a joke, but their reactions were consistent: if one of the most intense, destructive bombing campaigns in history failed to drive them from their homes, then the American real estate tycoon turned president will also surely fail.
“Who is Trump to decide our fate, plan our future, and control Gaza?” said Ayat, a 33-year-old mother of three girls, who returned a week ago to their home in the al-Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza to find it burned out and partly demolished. “All these plans are nonsense and will fail. Our homes are rubble, and we are living on top of it. How do you expect us to leave?
“They want us to go to Egypt, to the Sinai desert. Where will we live there? They want us to go to Jordan, but it is already full of Palestinian refugees. We do not want to live in other countries, and no one wants us to live in their country.”
Read the full report here:
Here are some images coming to us over the wires.
Summary of the day so far
It is approaching 5pm in Gaza City, Tel Aviv and Beirut, and 6.30pm in Tehran. Here are today’s key updates:
Hamas is to release three more hostages on Saturday in the sixth hostage-prisoner swap under a ceasefire deal with Israel. In exchange, Israel is expected to release 369 Palestinian prisoners and detainees on Saturday, Hamas said.
The three Israelis to be freed on Saturday are: Israeli-Argentinian Iair Horn, 46, Israeli-Russian Alexandre (Sasha) Troufanov, 29, and Israeli-American Sagui Dekel Chen. The Hostages Families Forum said on Friday that it welcomed the “joyous news” of the three men’s impending release.
A freed Israeli hostage said on Friday that Hamas militants starved and tortured him during captivity, as the Red Cross expressed concern over the condition of those still held in Gaza.“When I was in Gaza, I lived in constant fear, fear for my life and my personal safety,” Keith Siegel, an Israeli-American who was freed on 1 February, said in a video statement addressed to US president Donald Trump.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which has facilitated the ongoing hostage-prisoner swaps between Israel and Hamas, said on Friday it was “very concerned” about the condition of the remaining hostages held in Gaza. “The latest release operations reinforce the urgent need for ICRC access to those held hostage. We remain very concerned about the conditions of the hostages,” the Red Cross said in a statement on X.
Iran accused Israel on Friday of disrupting flights from Tehran to Beirut, after a decision barring two Iranian planes from landing in the Lebanese capital sparked protests. Israel has repeatedly accused Hezbollah of using Lebanon’s only airport to transfer weapons from Iran. Hezbollah and Lebanese officials have denied Israel’s claims.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio is expected to visit Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates soon to discuss the fragile Gaza ceasefire.
Saudi Arabia will host the leaders of four Arab countries at a summit on 20 February to discuss Donald Trump’s proposal for a US takeover of Gaza, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported, citing a source with knowledge of the preparations. Speaking on condition of anonymity, another source said the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, would also attend.
Fourteen Palestinian children, many with cancer, have been flown to Italy for medical treatment, the latest among dozens brought from Gaza after the Hamas-Israel war. The children and their families, a total of 45 people, were flown to Italy on an Italian military plane, and greeted at Rome’s Ciampino airport on Thursday evening by foreign minister Antonio Tajani.
Two Jerusalem booksellers detained this week on charges their books were causing “public disorder” have said the experience reflected an intensifying campaign by the Israeli government against Palestinian culture and free speech. Mahmoud Muna and his nephew Ahmed, whose family has owned the Educational Bookshop for more than 40 years, spent two days in detention and will remain under house arrest until Sunday, despite the absence of evidence to support the vague accusations against them.
Turkey will not allow terrorist organisations to take shelter in northern Syria and will not hesitate to take action in that regard, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said. The new Syrian administration under Ahmed al-Sharaa appears to be determined to fight those terrorist organisations, Erdoğan said, according to a transcript of his remarks to journalists on his return flight from a trip to Malaysia, Indonesia and Pakistan.
Updated
Iran accuses Israel of disrupting air route to Lebanon
Iran accused Israel on Friday of disrupting flights from Tehran to Beirut, after a decision barring two Iranian planes from landing in the Lebanese capital sparked protests, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Israel has repeatedly accused Hezbollah of using Lebanon’s only airport to transfer weapons from Iran and struck the area during its war with the Tehran-backed militant group which ended late last year.
The Iranian foreign ministry said that “the threat by the Zionist regime to a passenger plane carrying Lebanese citizens has disrupted normal flights to Beirut airport”. The statement by ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei did not specify the nature of the threat attributed to Israel, but comes after Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee had warned the army was prepared “to thwart” any attempts to transfer funds or weapons to Hezbollah.
Hezbollah and Lebanese officials have denied Israel’s claims that Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International airport was used to arm the militant group, reports AFP.
Baghaei condemned Israel’s “gross and continuous violations of the principles and rules of international law and violations of Lebanon’s national sovereignty”. He also called for the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and other world bodies “to stop Israel’s dangerous behaviour against the safety and security of civil aviation”.
Lebanon’s directorate general of civil aviation said on Thursday it had “temporarily rescheduled” some flights including from Iran until 18 February as it was implementing “additional security measures”. That date coincides with the deadline for the full implementation of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah.
According to AFP, the Israeli military’s Adraee has said that Iran and Hezbollah “have been exploiting … the Beirut international airport through civilian flights, to smuggle funds dedicated to arming” the group.
Late on Thursday, a crowd of Lebanese supporters of Hezbollah blocked the Beirut airport road and burned tyres to protest against the decision to bar the Iranian planes from landing.
AFP images showed young men raising Hezbollah’s yellow flag and holding portraits of the group’s former leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike in September, and of Iran’s slain Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Suleimani.
After the airport protests, authorities said they were working to bring back Lebanese passengers stranded in Iran with planes belonging to the Beirut-based Middle East Airlines. But Saeed Chalandari, CEO of Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport said on Friday that Iran had rejected the proposal. “Naturally, we do not agree to their request, because if there is to be a flight between the two countries, it must be a two-way flight,” Chalandari told Iranian news agency Tasnim, according to AFP.
Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, said that Tehran could agree to the Middle East Airlines evacuation flights “on the condition that they (Lebanese authorities) don’t block Iranian flights”.
Freed Israeli hostage says Hamas 'starved' him in captivity
A freed Israeli hostage said on Friday that Hamas militants starved and tortured him during captivity, as the Red Cross expressed concern over the condition of those still held in Gaza, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Hamas is to release three more hostages on Saturday in the sixth hostage-prisoner swap under a ceasefire deal with Israel.
“When I was in Gaza, I lived in constant fear, fear for my life and my personal safety,” Keith Siegel, an Israeli-American who was freed on 1 February, said in a video statement addressed to US president Donald Trump, reports AFP.
Siegel said:
The terrorists kicked me, spat on me, and held me with no water, no light, and no air to breathe. I was starved and tortured, both physically and emotionally.”
The mother of a released Israeli soldier, Liri Albag, told Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot that her daughter sometimes had nothing to eat for days, and “at times, they ate food meant for donkeys”.
Shiri Albag, in comments published on Thursday, said there was “minimal hygiene” in Gaza and recalled how her daughter’s captives taunted her with videos of the male hostages being beaten and abused.
The latest allegations of abuse in captivity came as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which has facilitated the ongoing hostage-prisoner swaps between Israel and Hamas, said it was concerned about those still in Gaza.
“The latest release operations reinforce the urgent need for ICRC access to those held hostage. We remain very concerned about the conditions of the hostages,” the Red Cross said in a statement on X. It added:
We have consistently reiterated that release and transfer operations should be carried out in a dignified and safe manner.
The ICRC will continue our efforts to see all hostages released, until the last hostage is returned.
During the fifth exchange on 8 February, Hamas forced three hostages to thank their captors in front of crowds of Palestinians gathered to witness their release in Gaza. The emaciated appearance of the hostages shocked their families and prompted the ICRC to call on Hamas to ensure subsequent swaps are more private and dignified.
Palestinian prisoners released to Ramallah hours after the Israelis were freed last Saturday also looked extremely thin, and seven out of 43 needed hospitalisation, the Palestinian Prisoners Club said.
Rights groups and whistleblowers have described a policy of “institutionalised abuse” in Israeli jails and detention centres. Severely reduced rations have led to prisoners emerging emaciated.
The next hostage-prisoner exchange is scheduled for Saturday. Three additional men are to be released.
Saudi Arabia will host the leaders of four Arab countries at a summit on 20 February to discuss Donald Trump’s proposal for a US takeover of Gaza, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports, citing a source with knowledge of the preparations.
The leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will attend the summit, which will take place ahead of an Arab League meeting in Cairo on 27 February on the same issue, the source said.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, another source said the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, would also attend.
Families of Israeli hostages welcome 'joyous news' of their release on Saturday
The Associated Press (AP) is reporting more details of the three Israeli hostages to be released on Saturday.
Israeli-Argentinian Iair Horn, 46, Israeli-Russian Alexandre (Sasha) Troufanov, 29, and Israeli-American Sagui Dekel Chen, 36 were all abducted from the kibbutz Nir Oz, where about 80 of roughly 400 residents were taken hostage in the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack.
Horn, was kidnapped along with his brother, Eitan Horn, who was staying with him at the time. Eitan Horn remains a hostage, reports the AP.
Chen was outside working on a bus renovation when militants stormed the kibbutz. His wife, Avital, hid in the safe room with their two daughters. Avital was seven months pregnant and gave birth to a third daughter, Shachar Mazal, in December, while her husband was in captivity.
Sasha Troufanov was taken hostage along with three members of his family: grandmother Irena Tati, mother Yelena (Lena) and his girlfriend Sapir Cohen. Sasha’s father, Vitaly Trufanov, was killed on 7 October 2023. The rest of his family was released in a brief ceasefire period in November 2023.
The Hostages Families Forum said on Friday that it welcomed the “joyous news” of the three men’s impending release.
Israel expected to release 369 Palestian prisoners and detainees on Saturday, says Hamas
Hamas said Israel was expected to release 369 Palestinian prisoners and detainees on Saturday in exchange for the three Israeli hostages named earlier, reports Reuters.
More details soon …
Updated
We have more on the three Israeli hostages to be released on Saturday.
A statement from prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel accepted the list, Agence France-Presses reports.
Hamas releases names of three Israelis to be released on Saturday
Hamas’s armed wing spokesperson has named the three Israeli hostages to be released on Saturday as Sagui Dekel-Chen, Iair Horn and Alexandre Sasha Troufanov, reports Reuters.
More details soon …
Updated
Hostage release: Hamas and Islamic Jihad announce further details
Three hostages will be released on Saturday, in accordance with the terms of the Gaza ceasefire, including US-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen, a Hamas official said, according to Reuters.
Separately, the Islamic Jihad group said it would release Russian-Israeli Alexandre Sasha Troufanov as part of the deal, reports Reuters.
More details soon …
Turkey will not allow terrorist organisations to take shelter in northern Syria and will not hesitate to take action in that regard, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said, according to Reuters.
The new Syrian administration under Ahmed al-Sharaa appears to be determined to fight those terrorist organisations, Erdoğan said, according to a transcript of his remarks to journalists on his return flight from a trip to Malaysia, Indonesia and Pakistan.
Erdoğan added that he discussed steps to be taken against those organisations during his meeting with Sharaa in Ankara earlier this month.
Initial proposals shared with Reuters by its three Egyptian security sources relating to Gaza’s reconstruction and financing appear advanced. According to the news agency’s sources, abuffer zone and physical barrier would be erected to stop tunnels being built across Gaza’s border with Egypt. As soon as rubble is removed, 20 areas would be established as temporary living zones. About 50 Egyptian and other foreign companies would be brought in to carry out the work, they added.
Financing would involve international and Gulf money, a regional source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. A potential fund could be named the Trump Fund for Reconstruction, the Arab government official said.
However, the most difficult issues around Gaza’s governance and internal security remain to be decided, the official told the news agency. Forcing Hamas out of any role in Gaza would be critical, said the Arab official and the three Egyptian sources.
Hamas has previously said it is willing to cede government in Gaza to a national committee, but it would want a role in choosing its members and would not accept the deployment of any ground forces without its consent.
The three Egyptian sources told Reuters that while nothing in the plan was very new, they believed it was good enough to change US president Donald Trump’s mind and that it could be imposed on Hamas and the Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas.
The Guardian has been unable to independently verify Reuters’ report.
Continuing from the last post, Reuters reports, citing three Egyptian security sources, that the latest Egyptian proposal involves forming a national Palestinian committee to govern Gaza without Hamas involvement, international participation in reconstruction without displacing Palestinians abroad, and movement towards a two-state solution.
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Palestinian representatives will review and discuss the plan in Riyadh before it is presented at a scheduled Arab summit on 27 February, an Arab government source told Reuters.
The role of Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman is shaping up to be key, reports Reuters. “We are telling the Americans we have a plan that works. Our meeting with MbS [Prince Mohammed] is going to be critical. He is taking the lead,” a Jordanian official told the news agency.
Prince Mohammed had a warm relationship with the first Trump administration and is increasingly central to Arab ties with the United States during the new Trump era, according to Reuters. Long a major regional partner for the US, Prince Mohammed is expanding Saudi Arabia’s relationship through business and global power politics.
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is holding a conference in Miami this month that Reuters revealed Trump is expected to attend. Riyadh is also expected to host his coming talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin to try to end the Ukraine war. The White House did not respond to several requests for comment on this story, according to Reuters.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio, speaking on Thursday, referred to the coming Arab meeting, saying:
Right now the only plan – they don’t like it – but the only plan is the Trump plan. So if they’ve got a better plan, now’s the time to present it.”
Spokespeople for Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the UAE and Israel did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Saudi Arabia spearheads Arab scramble for alternative to Trump’s Gaza plan
Saudi Arabia is spearheading urgent Arab efforts to develop a plan for Gaza’s future as a counter to US president Donald Trump’s ambition for a “Riviera of the Middle East” cleared of its Palestinian inhabitants, 10 sources told Reuters.
Draft ideas will be discussed at a meeting in Riyadh this month of countries including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. Proposals may involve a Gulf-led reconstruction fund and a deal to sideline Hamas, five of the people told the news agency.
Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies were aghast at Trump’s plan to “clean out” Palestinians from Gaza and resettle most of them in Jordan and Egypt, an idea immediately rejected by Cairo and Amman and seen in most of the region as deeply destabilising.
The dismay in Saudi Arabia was aggravated, sources told Reuters, because the plan would nix the kingdom’s demand for a clear path to Palestinian statehood as a condition to normalise ties with Israel – something that would also pave the way for an ambitious military pact between Riyadh and Washington, shoring up the kingdom’s defences against Iran, explains Reuters.
Reuters spoke to 15 sources in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and elsewhere to build a picture of the hurried efforts by Arab states to pull together existing proposals into a new plan they can sell to the US president – even potentially calling it a “Trump plan” to win his approval.
All the sources declined to be identified by Reuters because the issue involves international or domestic sensitivities and they were not authorised to speak in public.
One Arab government source told Reuters that at least four proposals had already been drafted for Gaza’s future, but an Egyptian proposal was now emerging as central to the Arab push for an alternative to Trump’s idea.
The Israeli government has signalled it intends to stick to the hostage release schedule agreed in the ceasefire deal with Hamas, but warned that if the anticipated three surviving hostages were not released on Saturday, it would go back to war in Gaza.
The statement from the prime minister’s office ends nearly three days of confusion after Donald Trump’s declaration that Israel should demand Hamas release all the remaining hostages, more than 70 people, by Saturday or failing that, end the ceasefire.
Since Trump’s remarks, Benjamin Netanyahu and his government had been vague on how many hostages they wanted released on Saturday, but a spokesperson, David Mencer, confirmed on Thursday that the Israeli demand was for three hostages as laid out in the timetable of the ceasefire agreement.
“There is a framework in place for the release of our hostages,” Mencer said. “That framework makes clear that three live hostages must be released by Hamas terrorists on Saturday.”
Earlier this week Hamas had suggested there might be an indefinite delay in the release of the next three hostages due to violations by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), but it backpedalled on that threat on Thursday and confirmed the timetable would remain on track.
We have reported a lot about Palestinians returning to Gaza following the latest ceasefire that came into effect on 19 January.
This drone photograph, taken after the commencement of the ceasefire shows the landscape that Palestinians are returning to in northern Gaza:
Updated
Here are some images coming in via the newswires:
Updated
Fourteen Palestinian children flown to Italy for medical treatment
Fourteen Palestinian children, many with cancer, have been flown to Italy for medical treatment, the latest among dozens brought from Gaza after the Hamas-Israel war, the foreign ministry said on Friday.
The children and their families, a total of 45 people, had on Wednesday crossed the Rafah border from Gaza into Egypt, where they underwent medical checks at the Italian hospital in Cairo, officials said, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
They were flown to Italy on an Italian military plane, and greeted at Rome’s Ciampino airport on Thursday evening by foreign minister Antonio Tajani.
Treating the children was part of Italy’s efforts to promote peace and dialogue in the region, he said on Friday, a “diplomacy made of solidarity, which restores hope to the most fragile and defenceless”.
Some of the children were due to be treated in the capital, the others heading north for treatment in hospitals including in Turin and Milan, a ministry spokesperson said.
Two of the children disembarked in Rome were headed for the Vatican’s Bambino Gesu hospital, which treated nine other Palestinian children last year. All those nine, ranging from one to 15 years old, have been discharged, a hospital spokesperson told AFP.
“Every child we bring to Italy is a sign of hope, a commitment to life and the future,” Italian defence secretary Guido Crosetto said.
Updated
Agence France-Presse (AFP) have some more detail on the comments today by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
In a statement on X, the ICRC wrote:
We have consistently reiterated that release and transfer operations should be carried out in a dignified and safe manner.
The ICRC will continue our efforts to see all hostages released, until the last hostage is returned.”
The ICRC has facilitated the ongoing hostage-prisoner swaps between Israel and Hamas.
Since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect on 19 January, the two sides have conducted five hostage-prisoner swaps.
During the fifth exchange on 8 February, Hamas forced three hostages to thank their captors in front of crowds of Palestinians gathered to witness their release in Gaza.
The emaciated appearance of the hostages prompted the ICRC to call on Hamas to ensure subsequent swaps are more private and dignified. The next hostage-prisoner swap is scheduled for Saturday.
Red Cross says 'very concerned' about condition of hostages in Gaza
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which has facilitated the ongoing hostage-prisoner swaps between Israel and Hamas, said on Friday it was “very concerned” about the condition of the remaining hostages held in Gaza, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“The latest release operations reinforce the urgent need for ICRC access to those held hostage. We remain very concerned about the conditions of the hostages,” the Red Cross said in a statement on X.
Updated
Palestinian booksellers decry detention by Israeli police over ‘public disorder’
Two Jerusalem booksellers detained this week on charges their books were causing “public disorder” have said the experience reflected an intensifying campaign by the Israeli government against Palestinian culture and free speech.
Mahmoud Muna and his nephew Ahmed, whose family has owned the Educational Bookshop for more than 40 years, spent two days in detention and will remain under house arrest until Sunday, despite the absence of evidence to support the vague accusations against them.
At about 3pm last Sunday, plainclothes police raided two branches of the shop on East Jerusalem’s Salah Eddin Street, one selling books in Arabic, and the other selling works in English and other foreign languages.
“They started going through the books and if they were of no interest to them, they would just throw them on the floor,” said Ahmed Muna, 33.
The raids triggered international outrage. Over generations, the Educational Bookstore has become a respected institution, selling academic, historical and political works and fiction alongside espresso coffee and teas to students, tourists, journalists and foreign diplomats. There were street protests after the raid and at least nine diplomats from the UK and other European countries attended the Munas’ court hearing.
Some analysts suggested the targeting of the bookshop was a measure of the increasing radicalisation of the country’s coalition government, which includes far-right parties.
Israeli journalist Noa Simone called the raid a “fascist act”, adding that it “evokes frightening historical associations with which every Jew is very familiar”.
You can read the full report by Julian Borger and Quique Kierszenbaum in Jerusalem here:
Updated
If fighting in Gaza resumes, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said it would end in the “defeat of Hamas and the release of all the hostages”. “It will also allow the realisation of US President Trump’s vision for Gaza,” he added, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Katz last week ordered the Israeli army to prepare for “voluntary” departures from Gaza, and the military said it has already begun reinforcing its troops around the territory.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels threatened on Thursday to launch new attacks on Israel if it and the United States went ahead with US president Donald Trump’s Gaza plan.
The ceasefire’s six-week first phase has seen Israeli hostages released in small groups in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
The two sides, which have yet to agree on the next phases of the truce, have traded accusations of violations, spurring concern that the violence could resume.
On Thursday, for the first time since the truce began, Israel’s military said it identified a rocket launch from Gaza. The rocket landed back inside the Palestinian territory and the military later said it had struck the launcher.
In Israel, dozens of relatives of hostages held in Gaza blocked a highway near Tel Aviv, waving banners and demanding the terms of the ceasefire be respected, an AFP journalist said.
Hamas has called for worldwide “solidarity marches” over the weekend to denounce “the plans to displace our Palestinian people from their land”.
Updated
Hamas expected to name Israeli hostages it will free this weekend
Hamas is expected on Friday to name three hostages it will release this weekend as part of a planned exchange for Palestinian prisoners and detainees, according to local media.
Israeli media reported on Thursday that Hamas was to name three hostages it would release on Saturday, after it reiterated its commitment to the ceasefire and to carrying out the next exchange “according to the specified timetable”.
“We are keen to implement it (the ceasefire) and oblige the occupation to fully abide by it,” Hamas spokesperson Abdel Latif al-Qanou said, adding that mediators were pushing for Israel “to resume the exchange process on Saturday”.
Israel warned on Thursday that Hamas must release three living hostages this weekend or face a resumption of the war in Gaza, after Hamas said it would pause releases over apparent Israeli violations of the truce.
“If those three are not released, if Hamas does not return our hostages, by Saturday noon, the ceasefire will end,” said government spokesperson David Mencer, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Hamas had previously accused Israel of holding up the delivery of heavy machinery needed to clear war debris, with bulldozers reportedly lining up at Egypt’s Rafah border crossing with Gaza waiting to enter.
Opening summary
Hamas is expected today to name three hostages it will release this weekend as part of a planned exchange for Palestinian prisoners and detainees, local media said, after days of uncertainty in which Israel threatened to scrap a nearly month-old Gaza ceasefire deal.
Israel warned on Thursday that Hamas must release three living hostages this weekend or face a resumption of the war in Gaza, after Hamas said it would pause releases over apparent Israeli violations of the truce.
The 19 January ceasefire, which largely halted 15 months of fighting in Gaza, has been under heightened pressure since US president Donald Trump proposed a US takeover of the territory.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), Israeli media reported on Thursday that Hamas was to name three hostages it would release on Saturday, after it reiterated its commitment to the ceasefire and to carrying out the next exchange “according to the specified timetable”.
More on that in a moment. First, here are the other key updates:
The Israeli government has signalled that it intends to stick to the hostage-release schedule agreed in the ceasefire deal with Hamas, but warned that if the anticipated three hostages are not released on Saturday, it would go back to war. Hamas said on Thursday it will continue implementing the Gaza ceasefire deal, including hostage exchange.
Yemen’s Houthis said they will immediately take military action if the US and Israel attack Gaza, the group’s leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, said in a televised speech on Thursday.
In Israel, dozens of relatives of hostages held in Gaza blocked a highway near Tel Aviv, waving banners and demanding the terms of the ceasefire be respected, an AFP journalist said on Thursday.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio is expected to visit Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates soon to discuss the fragile Gaza ceasefire.
On Thursday, for the first time since the truce began, Israel’s military said it identified a rocket launch from Gaza. The rocket landed back inside the Palestinian territory and the military later said it had struck the launcher.
Two Jerusalem booksellers detained this week on charges their books were causing “public disorder” have said the experience reflected an intensifying campaign by the Israeli government against Palestinian culture and free speech. Mahmoud Muna and his nephew Ahmed, whose family has owned the Educational Bookshop for more than 40 years, spent two days in detention and will remain under house arrest until Sunday, despite the absence of evidence to support the vague accusations against them.
