Summary
Here’s a wrap-up of the day’s key events:
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday that he condemned “any projects” to relocate Palestinians from Gaza to other countries. In a statement on Sunday, Abbas’s office said he “expressed strong rejection and condemnation of any projects aimed at displacing our people from the Gaza Strip,” adding that Palestinians “will not abandon their land and holy sites.”
Speaking to Agence France-Presse on Sunday, two Palestinian sources said that an Israeli woman currently held hostage by Hamas in Gaza will be freed – as per Israel’s demands – before the next exchange between hostages and Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons. “Arbel Yehud is expected to be freed before the next exchange” scheduled for 1 February, a source from Islamic Jihad told Agence France-Presse.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said French president Emmanuel Macron will allow Israeli companies to attend this year’s airshow in Paris. In a statement on Sunday, Netanyahu’s office said, “The French president assured the prime minister that Israeli companies would be able to participate in the Paris Air Show.”
French president Emmanuel Macron has called on Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “withdraw his forces still present in Lebanon”, his office said in a readout of a phone call between the two leaders. “The President of the Republic stressed to the prime minister the importance of ensuring that nothing compromises the efforts of the new Lebanese authorities to restore the authority of the state throughout the territory of their country,” the readout says.
Donald Trump, in a widely expected move, yesterday instructed the US military to release a hold on the supply of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel imposed by former president Joe Biden. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu – a staunch Trump ally – has thanked the American president for the decision.
The Israeli military said that its troops “operating in southern Lebanon fired warning shots to remove threats in a number of areas where suspects were identified approaching the troops”. It also said “a number of suspects... that posed an imminent threat” were apprehended. An Israeli military spokesperson, addressing the people of south Lebanon in a post on X, accused Hezbollah of trying to “heat up the situation” and said the Israeli army would “in the near future” inform them of places to which they can return.
Updated
Drone footage showed large crowds of Palestinians waiting to be allowed to return to the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday, a day after Hamas freed four female Israeli soldiers in exchange for 200 Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons:
Here are some images coming through the newswires from Gaza and Israel:
Updated
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday that he condemned “any projects” to relocate Palestinians from Gaza to other countries.
In a statement on Sunday, Abbas’s office said he “expressed strong rejection and condemnation of any projects aimed at displacing our people from the Gaza Strip,” adding that Palestinians “will not abandon their land and holy sites.”
Abbas’s comments come as Donald Trump suggested to reporters that “we just clean out” Gaza and told Jordan’s King Abdullah on Saturday that he wanted to move Palestinians to neighboring countries including Jordan and Egypt.
“I said to him: I’d love you to take on more because I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now and it’s a mess, it’s a real mess. I’d like him to take people,” Trump said.
Over the last 15 months, Israeli forces have killed over 47,700 Palestinians across the narrow strip while forcibly displacing approximately 2 million survivors.
As restrictions on movement around Gaza are eased, Palestinian families who have been forcibly displaced by Israeli forces are coming to grieve at a cemetery in Khan Younis.
The Guardian’s Malak A Tantesh and Jason Burke report:
The new graves in the main cemetery in Khan Younis, in the south of Gaza, have been hastily laid in close rows, often just as mounds of sand. For most, jagged chunks of concrete or breeze blocks, or plastic boards, serve as headstones.
When there are funerals, which is often, the graveyard is full of activity. Otherwise, mourners grieve in silence and the only sounds are the laughing play of the displaced children living in tents nearby and the occasional chirping of birds.
On Thursday, Hisham Lafi, 62, had come to visit the graves of his two sons, who were 28 and 22 when they were killed early in the conflict when they went together to collect food from an NGO.
“My sons told me that I should rest and that one of them would go and collect [the aid package] instead. They argued about who would go and eventually decided to go together,” Lafi said. “They left at 11.30am, and by 1.30 in the afternoon, I was worried. I rang their phones, but no one answered. Finally, someone answered my eldest son Mohammed’s phone. I asked: ‘Where are you? Come back so we can have lunch.’ A voice said: ‘This isn’t Mohammed. Mohammed has been martyred, and his body is now at Nasser hospital.’
For the full story, click here:
Speaking to Agence France-Presse on Sunday, two Palestinian sources said that an Israeli woman currently held hostage by Hamas in Gaza will be freed – as per Israel’s demands – before the next exchange between hostages and Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons.
“Arbel Yehud is expected to be freed before the next exchange” scheduled for 1 February, a source from Islamic Jihad told Agence France-Presse.
According to another Palestinian source, Yehud is set to be released by Friday.
“The release of Arbel Yehud will happen most likely by next Friday in exchange for 30 prisoners serving life sentences,” the source told Agence France-Presse.
Israel has accused Hamas of reneging on the ceasefire conditions when Hamas did not release Yehud during this weekend’s second exchange.
According to Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, Yehud was “supposed to be released” as part of the second swap.
He added that by not releasing Yehud, Hamas was in violation of the terms and his office said “will not allow the passage of Gazans to the northern part of the Gaza Strip until the release of civilian Arbel Yehud... is arranged,” Agence France-Presse reports.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that French president Emmanuel Macron will allow Israeli companies to attend this year’s airshow in Paris.
In a statement on Sunday, Netanyahu’s office said, “The French president assured the prime minister that Israeli companies would be able to participate in the Paris Air Show.”
According to Macron’s office, the presence of Israeli companies “could be examined favourably as a result of the ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon,” Agence France-Presse reports.
Last year, France prevented Israeli companies from exhibiting at the Euronaval arms show, which in turn prompted then Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant to declare Macron’s decision “a disgrace to the French nation and the values of the free world.”
In the last 15 months, Israeli forces have waged a deadly war on Gaza, killing 46,700 Palestinians while forcibly displacing over 2 million survivors.
Interim Summary
Here’s a look at where things currently stand:
French President Emmanuel Macron has called on Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “withdraw his forces still present in Lebanon”, his office said in a readout of a phone call between the two leaders. “The President of the Republic stressed to the prime minister the importance of ensuring that nothing compromises the efforts of the new Lebanese authorities to restore the authority of the state throughout the territory of their country,” the readout says.
Donald Trump, in a widely expected move, yesterday instructed the US military to release a hold on the supply of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel imposed by former president Joe Biden. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu – a staunch Trump ally – has thanked the American president for the decision.
The Israeli military said that its troops “operating in southern Lebanon fired warning shots to remove threats in a number of areas where suspects were identified approaching the troops”. It also said “a number of suspects... that posed an imminent threat” were apprehended. An Israeli military spokesperson, addressing the people of south Lebanon in a post on X, accused Hezbollah of trying to “heat up the situation” and said the Israeli army would “in the near future” inform them of places to which they can return.
Palestinian militant group Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad condemned US President Donald Trump’s comments that large numbers of Palestinians should leave Gaza – and relocate to neighbouring countries like Jordan and Egypt - to “just clean out” the whole strip. Islamic Jihad called Trump’s idea “deplorable” and said it encouraged “war crimes and crimes against humanity by forcing our people to leave their land”.
The UN said conditions are “not yet in place” for the safe return of Lebanese citizens to southern Lebanon. Israeli troops have remained in southern Lebanon beyond Sunday’s deadline for their withdrawal, claiming that the ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah had not yet been fully enforced.
French President Emmanuel Macron has called on Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “withdraw his forces still present in Lebanon”, his office said in a readout of a phone call between the two leaders.
“The President of the Republic stressed to the prime minister the importance of ensuring that nothing compromises the efforts of the new Lebanese authorities to restore the authority of the state throughout the territory of their country,” the readout says.
Under the US/France brokered ceasefire deal signed in November, Hezbollah was given 60 days to end its armed presence in southern Lebanon while Israeli forces had to withdraw from the area over the same period.
Benjamin Netanyahu has said the Lebanese state had not yet “fully enforced” the deal, meaning Israel’s military presence would be extended beyond the agreed 60 days. It is not clear many of its soldiers remained in Lebanon or how long they would stay for.
Lebanon’s health ministry says 15 people (14 residents and a solider) have been killed by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon today, as residents tried to return home on the day Israel was meant to withdraw under a truce deal with Hezbollah. You can read more here.
As we reported in an earlier post, Donald Trump, in a widely expected move, yesterday instructed the US military to release a hold on the supply of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel imposed by former president Joe Biden.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu – a staunch Trump ally – has thanked the American president for the decision.
In a post on X, Netanyahu wrote this afternoon:
Thank you, President Trump, for keeping your promise to give Israel the tools it needs to defend itself, fight our common enemies, and ensure a future of peace and prosperity.
Netanyahu, who was one of the first to congratulate Trump when he beat Kamala Harris in the November US presidential elections, has in the past called the Republican the “best friend Israel has ever had in the White House”.
During Trump’s first term, he delivered significant diplomatic wins for the Israeli prime minister, including recognising Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights in 2019 and supporting the Abraham accords with Gulf states.
Updated
Our video team has put together this drone footage showing the scale of destruction Israeli bombardments over the war caused to four hospitals in Gaza: the Kamal Adwan, al-Shifa, al-Awda and Indonesian. You can watch the video here:
Despite the Gaza ceasefire, which was meant to bring a halt to hostilities, a Palestinian person was killed by Israeli forces on the coastal al-Rashid road in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday, Palestinian news agency Wafa reports.
Here is an extract from the Wafa report, which we have not yet been able to independently verify:
According to medical sources, the victim was shot dead in the area of Tabbat al-Nuwairi, west of the Nuseirat refugee camp, as Israeli forces opened fire on a gathering of civilians who were waiting to return to the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
Several others were injured in the attack, with some reported to be in critical condition.
Eyewitnesses and medical sources confirmed that the Israeli forces fired live ammunition at the group, causing multiple injuries among civilians. Many of those affected were part of the large crowd of displaced Palestinians who have been waiting to return home, following Israel’s expected withdrawal from the so-called Netzarim Corridor.
Updated
Reuters has this dispatch concerning Palestinians waiting to re-enter Gaza:
Tens of thousands of Palestinians waited, blocked on the road, to return to their homes in northern Gaza on Sunday, voicing frustration after Israel accused Hamas of breaching a ceasefire agreement and refused to open crossing points.
A day after a second exchange of Israeli hostages held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, the holdup underlined the risks hanging over the truce between the militant group and Israel, longtime adversaries in a series of Gaza wars.
In central Gaza, columns of people were waiting along the main roads leading north, some in vehicles and some on foot, witnesses said.
“A sea of people is waiting for a signal to move back to Gaza City and the north,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a displaced person from Gaza City. “This is the deal that was signed, isn’t it?”
“Many of those people have no idea whether their houses back home are still standing. But they want to go regardless, they want to put up the tents next to the rubble of their houses, they want to feel home,” he told Reuters via a chat app.
Updated
Tens of thousands of people will risk death or injury this weekend from shells and bombs buried in rubble when they try to reach their ruined homes in areas of Gaza that have been inaccessible throughout much of the 15-month war, explosive disposal experts and aid officials have warned.
To comply with the ceasefire deal that came into effect last Sunday, Israel must allow movement from southern Gaza to the north – where destruction has been most intensive – through a major checkpoint on the Israeli-held Netzarim corridor.
Speaking from Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, Amjad Shawa, the director of the Palestinian NGOs Network in Gaza, said:
There is likely to be massive movement over the next few days and people are also going to be trying to find their loved ones or whoever under the rubble.
There are 50m tonnes of debris that contains unknown dangerous items. Unexploded ordnance is a really big issue. We are trying to coordinate efforts to raise awareness. We are telling children especially tell authorities if they find anything and stay away from it.
Experts have described as “unprecedented” the challenges of clearing unexploded bombs and other munitions from Gaza, where more than two-thirds of buildings have been destroyed or damaged by one of the most intensive bombardments in modern times.
You can read the full story by my colleagues Malak A Tantesh and Jason Burke here:
Updated
Reuters is reporting Lebanese authorities have said Israeli forces killed 15 people in south Lebanon on Sunday as a deadline for their withdrawal passed and thousands of people tried to return to their homes in defiance of Israeli military orders.
Lebanon’s US-backed military, which reported one of its soldiers among those killed by Israeli forces on Sunday, has accused Israel of procrastinating in its withdrawal.
The Hezbollah-Israel conflict was fought in parallel with the Gaza war, and peaked in a major Israeli offensive that uprooted more than a million people in Lebanon and left the Iran-backed group badly weakened.
Updated
The Israeli military said that its troops “operating in southern Lebanon fired warning shots to remove threats in a number of areas where suspects were identified approaching the troops”. It also said “a number of suspects... that posed an imminent threat” were apprehended.
An Israeli military spokesperson, addressing the people of south Lebanon in a post on X, accused Hezbollah of trying to “heat up the situation” and said the Israeli army would “in the near future” inform them of places to which they can return.
The Israeli army has blamed the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group for its deadly attacks in southern Lebanon, saying it sent “rioters” into the area to cause trouble.
As we have mentioned already, Israel says it is keeping its troops in southern Lebanon - beyond the Sunday deadline set out in the November ceasefire - saying Lebanon had not yet fully enforced terms requiring south Lebanon to be free of Hezbollah arms and the Lebanese army to be deployed.
Lebanese president Joseph Aoun, the former army chief who took office earlier this month after a two-year vacancy in the post, has called on residents to keep a cool head and “trust the Lebanese army”, which he said wanted “to ensure your safe return to your homes and villages”.
In a statement on Saturday, the Lebanese army said it continued to “implement the plan to enhance deployment” in areas along the border, but cited “delays in some stages due to the Israeli enemy’s procrastination in withdrawing, complicating the army’s deployment mission”.
Summary of the day so far...
Tens of thousands of Palestinian people are anxiously waiting to return to their homes in northern Gaza. Israel said that Hamas’ failure to hand over a list detailing which of the hostages scheduled for release is alive and to hand over Israeli civilian hostage Arbel Yehoud meant it had violated the ceasefire agreement. This means checkpoints in the central Gaza Strip are not being opened to allow crossings into northern Gaza. Hamas has accused Israel of stalling and holding it responsible for the delay.
Palestinian militant group Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad condemned US President Donald Trump’s comments that large numbers of Palestinians should leave Gaza – and relocate to neighbouring countries like Jordan and Egypt - to “just clean out” the whole strip. Islamic Jihad called Trump’s idea “deplorable” and said it encouraged “war crimes and crimes against humanity by forcing our people to leave their land”.
Donald Trump instructed the US military to release a hold on the supply of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel imposed by former president Joe Biden.
The UN said conditions are “not yet in place” for the safe return of Lebanese citizens to southern Lebanon. Israeli troops have remained in southern Lebanon beyond Sunday’s deadline for their withdrawal, claiming that the ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah had not yet been fully enforced.
The Lebanese health ministry said the Israeli army opened fire on Sunday on residents of southern Lebanon trying to return to their villages, killing at least 11 people and injuring 83 others.
The UN’s Palestinian refugee agency (Unrwa) said it had been ordered by Israel to vacate premises and cease all of its operations in occupied East Jerusalem by Thursday.
The death toll from Israeli fire on southern Lebanon villages has risen to 11 (up from ten a short while ago), the health ministry has said in an updated statement.
“The aggressions of the Israeli enemy against citizens trying to return to their villages that are still under occupation have left 11 people dead including a soldier of the Lebanese army and two women, as well as 83 wounded so far,” the Lebanese health ministry said.
Updated
At least ten people killed by Israeli fire, officials say, as Lebanese residents protest Israeli soldier's presence
William Christou is a Beirut-based journalist reporting from Lebanon for the Guardian
Residents of at least 9 Lebanese border villages returned to their hometowns on Sunday in protest of Israeli forces’ presence in south Lebanon after the 60-day period specified for their withdrawal in the Lebanon-Israel ceasefire agreement expired on Sunday morning.
Residents gathered in civilian convoys before heading to border villages, despite warnings by the Israeli military spokesperson that doing so would “expose them to danger”.
Israeli forces shot at people who gathered to protest their presence, killing at least ten – including a Lebanese soldier – and wounding 80 people, according to Lebanon’s ministry of health. Several people were also arrested by Israeli forces.
Lebanese protesters faced off with Israeli soldiers and tanks, waving banners and chanting slogans just a few meters away. In one confrontation, a woman stands in front of Israeli soldiers as they shoot at her feet and yells at them: “Go back to your country! Go back to your family!” Others, including women and children, hoisted Hezbollah flags in front of Israeli tanks and carried pictures of Hassan Nasrallah, the former secretary general of the Lebanese militia who was killed by Israel in late September.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Saturday that Israeli forces would stay in south Lebanon beyond the 60-day withdrawal period specified in the ceasefire signed two months earlier. Netanyahu accused Lebanon of having “not yet fully enforced” its obligations under the ceasefire by not fully deploying in south Lebanon – a measure meant to prevent Hezbollah returning south of the Litani river, some 18 miles from the border.
Lebanese president Joseph Aoun said on Sunday that “Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are non-negotiable” and that he was following up on the issue to ensure Lebanese citizens’ “rights and dignity”. Lebanese soldiers accompanied civilian protesters in border villages, walking alongside them in an attempt to protect them from Israeli fire. In villages on the eastern portion of the border, Lebanese soldiers attempted to block residents from returning for their safety.
Sunday’s protests were the first time that many civilians entered their villages along the Lebanese-Israeli border since Israel announced its operation in south Lebanon in late September. Satellite analysis showed that many villages along the border have been flattened by Israeli detonations – which it said was aimed at destroying Hezbollah infrastructure. Critics accused Israel of trying to create a buffer zone by making the area on Israel’s northern border uninhabitable.
Despite a ceasefire agreement, Israel has carried out more than 350 airstrikes across Lebanon, which it said was aimed at stopping Hezbollah activity. Hezbollah MP Ali Fayyad said this week that if Israel does not withdraw by 26 January, that “it will mean the collapse of the ceasefire deal”.
Conditions 'not yet in place' for safe return of Lebanese citizens to south - UN
Conditions are “not yet in place” for the safe return of Lebanese citizens to southern Lebanon, according to a joint statement by the UN special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, and Unifil’s head of mission and force commander Lt. Gen. Aroldo Lázaro.
In a post on X, the joint statement read:
Much has changed in Lebanon since the Cessation of Hostilities Understanding came into force in the early hours of 27 November 2024.
Violence has dramatically decreased. In many areas of southern Lebanon, hundreds of thousands of people have been able to return to their towns and villages. The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) have shown resolve in deploying to positions from which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are withdrawing. Supported by Unifil, the LAF is helping restore services and facilitating access to communities most affected by conflict…
The fact is that the timeliness envisaged in the November Understanding have not been met. As seen tragically this morning, conditions are not yet in place for the safe return of citizens to their villages along the Blue Line. Displaced communities, already facing a long road to recovery and reconstruction, are therefore once again being called on to exercise caution. Also, violations of United Nations Security Council resolution 1701 (2006) continue to be recorded daily (Resolution 1701 ended the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war. Under the terms of the agreement, Hezbollah and other armed militias must not be present past the Litani River, about 18 miles (30km) north of the border).
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil), which has about 10,000 troops, was established to patrol the country’s southern frontier after Israel invaded in 1978. At its core, the agency seeks to keep the peace in areas between Lebanon and Israel. To do so, it monitors any movements of Israeli or Lebanese forces across the “blue line”, a 75-mile (120km) UN-mapped line that has become a de facto border. You can read more about Unifil in this useful explainer.
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Unrwa says it has been ordered by Israel to cease all of its operations in East Jerusalem by Thursday
Israel has ordered the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) to vacate its offices in East Jerusalem, a hub of the UN agency’s work across the region that has also been the target of attacks.
Unrwa branded the order to vacate its offices and cease operations “in contradiction to international law”. Buildings operated by the UN, they added, should be immune from searches, expropriation “or other forms of interference”.
“United Nations premises are inviolable and enjoy privileges and immunities under the United Nations charter,” they said, adding that the order violates obligations of UN member states including Israel.
The demand that Unrwa vacate their offices by 30 January comes amidst a looming Israeli ban on the UN agency due to go into effect the following day. The Israeli high court is also due to rule on an injunction about whether to delay the ban tomorrow.
Israel has accused Unrwa employees of taking part in Hamas’ 7 October attacks on Israeli towns and kibbutzim around Gaza, and has since moved to curb the UN agency’s role in aid delivery. An independent report commissioned by the UN to investigate Israel’s claims found that “Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence of this”.
Attacks on the UN agency, particularly centred on their premises in East Jerusalem, have still continued to mount. Last May, Unrwa said that a crowd of Israeli protestors set their office on fire, accompanied by “armed men chanting ‘burn down the United Nations’”.
The threat to Unrwa’s operations risks stymieing aid delivery into Gaza at a critical moment amidst a delicate ceasefire in Gaza, including a demand to increase aid to the besieged territory during a halt in fighting. Unrwa also provides schooling, healthcare and even rubbish collection to tens of thousands living in Palestinian refugee camps across the West Bank as well as much of East Jerusalem, with few clear plans about how these vital services might be replaced if abruptly shuttered.
“Claims from the Israeli authorities that Unrwa has no right to occupy the premises are without foundation,” said Unrwa in a statement. “They promote anti-Unrwa rhetoric, placing the agency’s facilities and personnel at risk. The government of Israel has stated publicly that the aim to vacate Unrwa premises in Sheikh Jarrah is to expand Israeli illegal settlements in occupied East Jerusalem.”
Israeli fire kills one Lebanese soldier in southern Lebanon - army
Israeli fire has killed one Lebanese soldier and injured another in the Mais al-Jabal village in southern Lebanon, according to a statement by the Lebanese army.
As we mentioned in a previous post, hundreds of Lebanese people tried to return to their homes in southern Lebanon earlier today - on the deadline for Israeli forces to withdraw from the area.
Israeli forces have left coastal areas of southern Lebanon, but are still present in areas further east.
The Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire deal states that Hezbollah pull back its forces north of the Litani River - about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border - and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
But Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Friday that “the ceasefire agreement has not yet been fully enforced by the Lebanese state”, so the military’s withdrawal would continue beyond the Sunday deadline.
As the deadline passed, the Lebanese health ministry said at least three people were killed and dozens others were injured by the Israeli military.
Hamas says Israel is violating ceasefire by blocking Palestinians' return to northern Gaza
Hamas has accused Israel of violating the fragile Gaza ceasefire agreement by preventing tens of thousands of Palestinian people from returning to their homes in the northern part of the strip.
“The occupation is stalling under the pretext of prisoner Arbel Yehoud, despite the movement informing mediators that she is alive and providing all the necessary guarantees for her release,” the Palestinian militant group said in a statement. “Hamas holds Israel responsible for the delay in implementing the agreement,” it added.
Hamas freed four female Israeli soldiers on Saturday, and Israel released about 200 Palestinian prisoners.
But Israel said another hostage, the female civilian Arbel Yehoud, was supposed to have been released ahead of the soldiers, and that it would not open the Netzarim corridor – that bisects the northern and southern halves of the strip - until she was freed. It also accused Hamas of failing to provide details on the conditions of hostages set to be freed in the coming weeks. Many Palestinians are waiting for instruction from the Israeli military on Salah al-Din street, south of the Netzarim Corridor, and on the al-Rashid road, west of the Nuseirat refugee camp, in central Gaza.
“Tens of thousands of displaced people are waiting near the Netzarim Corridor to return to the northern Gaza Strip,” Gaza’s civil defence agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images being sent to us over the newswires from Gaza, where thousands of Palestinian people are waiting to be allowed to return to their homes in the north:
Updated
Trump resumes sending 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, undoing Biden pause
As a reminder, Donald Trump said yesterday that he had instructed the US military to release a hold on the supply of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel imposed by former president Joe Biden.
“We released them. We released them today. And they’ll have them. They paid for them and they’ve been waiting for them for a long time. They’ve been in storage,” Trump told reporters.
Biden put the hold on the delivery of those bombs due to concern over the devastating impact they could have on the civilian population, particularly in Gaza’s Rafah, during Israel’s war on the Palestinian territory, which has now killed over 47,200 people, according to the health ministry. One 2,000-pound bomb can rip through thick concrete and metal, creating a wide blast radius.
Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Saar has today thanked Trump for authorising the release of the shipment of 2,000-pound bombs.
In a post on X, he wrote:
Thank you, President Trump, for yet another display of leadership by releasing the crucial defence shipment to Israel.
Washington says it is helping Israel defend itself against Iran-backed militant groups like Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen. But Israel has been accused of genocide and war crimes in Gaza, charges Israel denies. The US has undoubtedly fuelled Israel’s military assault through providing it with arms and giving Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration diplomatic cover on the international stage.
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Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad says Trump's idea of relocating Palestinians encourages 'war crimes'
Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, which fought alongside Hamas in the war against Israel, has reacted to Donald Trump’s idea of possibly relocating Palestinian people to Egypt and Jordan, both of which border the Palestinian territories (see post at 08.54 to read the US president’s comments). It said: “This proposal falls within the framework of encouraging war crimes and crimes against humanity by forcing our people to leave their land.”
A senior Hamas official, meanwhile, told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency: “As they have foiled every plan for displacement and alternative homelands over the decades, our people will also foil such projects,” Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas political bureau, said.
Israel’s war on Gaza displaced almost the entire 2.3 million people in Gaza, many of them multiple times (through a combination of forced evacuation orders and relentless airstrikes across the territory). Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has previously rejected the idea of a forced displacement of Palestinians into the Sinai peninsula, amid concern that those displaced may never be able to return.
Shortly after the Hamas-led 7 October attack on southern Israel, Jordan’s King Abdullah warned against trying to push Palestinian refugees into Egypt or Jordan, saying that the humanitarian situation must to be dealt with inside Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
As we mentioned in a previous post, Jordan is already home to millions of registered Palestinian refugees.
This post was amended at 12.21 GMT to correct a reference to Egypt and Jordan bordering Gaza; they both border the Palestinian territories.
Updated
Israeli forces kill three people in south Lebanon as residents try to return home after deadline for Israeli withdrawal expires
Israeli forces killed three people and injured at least 31 others trying to return to homes in south Lebanon where Israeli troops remained on the ground after a deadline for their withdrawal passed on Sunday, Lebanon’s health ministry has said.
A 60-day truce that went into effect at the end of November between Hezbollah and Israel halted a two-month-old Israeli ground assault and more than a year of cross-border aerial attacks that drove tens of thousands of people in both countries from their homes.
As my colleagues Bethan McKernan and Quique Kierszenbaum note in this story, the US/France-brokered ceasefire was supposed to become permanent when it expired on Sunday – but just a day before the deadline, neither side had fulfilled their obligations.
The deal stipulated that Israeli forces should withdraw from the south as the Iran-backed Hezbollah’s weapons and fighters were removed from the area and the Lebanese army deployed.
Israel has, however, said the terms have not been fully enforced by the Lebanese state, while Lebanon’s US-backed military on Saturday accused Israel of procrastinating in its withdrawal.
The Lebanese health ministry has said one person was killed in the Lebanese village of Houla, another in Aitaroun, and a third person in Blida as a result of Israeli attacks on citizens while they were trying to enter their still-occupied towns.
Dozens of Lebanese people have also reportedly been injured by Israeli forces who remain on the ground despite the terms of the agreement.
Israel has not said how long its forces would remain in the south, where the Israeli military says it has been seizing Hezbollah weapons and dismantling its infrastructure.
Updated
Trump wants Jordan and Egypt to accept more Palestinian refugees and suggests plan to 'clean out' Gaza
US President Donald Trump has indicated that he would like to see Jordan, Egypt and other Arab nations increase the number of Palestinian refugees they are accepting from the Gaza Strip.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One yesterday, Trump, an ally of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said: “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, ‘You know, it’s over.’”
Trump also told reporters that he had call earlier in the day with King Abdullah II of Jordan and would speak with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi on Sunday.
The newly inaugurated Republican president said he complimented Jordan for having successfully accepted Palestinian refugees and that he told the king: “I’d love for you to take on more, cause I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now, and it’s a mess. It’s a real mess.” For context,Jordan is already home to more than 2.39 million registered Palestinian refugees, according to the UN.
Trump added:
I don’t know, something has to happen, but it’s literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything’s demolished and people are dying there, so I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing in a different location where I think they could maybe live in peace for a change.
Trump said that the potential housing “could be temporary” or “could be long-term”. During Israel’s 15 month war on Gaza, more than two-thirds of buildings have been destroyed or damaged by one of the most intensive bombardments in modern times. It has sparked a refugee crisis as large parts of the territory are now uninhabitable.
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Palestinians blocked from returning to northern Gaza by Israeli military
Hello, and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the developments in the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel and the crisis in the Middle East more widely.
Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement, people displaced from their homes in Gaza should now be allowed to move freely around the Palestinian territory.
But thousands of displaced Palestinian people are reportedly being blocked from returning to their homes in northern Gaza as Israel accuses Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, from not honouring the terms of the ceasefire deal.
On Saturday, armed members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad handed over four Israeli soldiers to the Red Cross as part of the agreement. The freed soldiers are Karina Ariev, 20, Daniella Gilboa, 20, Naama Levy, 20, and Liri Albag, 19, who served with the Israel Defense Forces.
However, a dispute broke out when the German-Israeli citizen Arbel Yehoud, aged 28 at the time of her capture, was not included in the swap, even though Hamas was expected to free more non-military hostages.
Yehoud is one of the last female civilians held in Gaza. She is reportedly held by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Gaza’s second largest armed faction, rather than Hamas, which led the 7 October 2023 on southern Israel, complicating her potential handover and release.
Hamas insisted Yehoud is alive and will be freed next week. But Israel has responded by delaying the planned withdrawal of some of its troops from Gaza, which would have allowed Palestinians to return to the devastated northern areas of the strip, which include Beit Hanoon, Beit Lahiya and Jabalia.
Al Jazeera is reporting this morning that thousands of Palestinian people are waiting for a permit by the Israeli military to access northern Gaza, much of which lies in rubble after the renewed Israeli assault on it last autumn.
The Israeli military has warned people that they cannot move north past the Netzarim Corridor – which divides the territory – as planned. We will bring you the latest on this throughout the day.
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