Thanks for following along with the developments from Washington today. We are closing this blog and moving our live coverage of the Middle East to a new blog, which you can find here:
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry has put out a full statement in the wake of Trump’s plan. It stresses “firm and unwavering” support for the establishment of a Palestinian state. Here is the statement in full:
#Statement | The Foreign Ministry affirms that Saudi Arabia’s position on the establishment of a Palestinian state is firm and unwavering. HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister clearly and unequivocally reaffirmed this stance. pic.twitter.com/0uuoq8h12I
— Foreign Ministry 🇸🇦 (@KSAmofaEN) February 5, 2025
Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has been asked about Donald Trump’s statement that the US would take over and own the Gaza Strip.
Albanese says he doesn’t do “running commentary” and continues to support a two-state solution in the Middle East.
Australia’s position is the same as it was this morning, as it was last year and it was 10 years ago and it was under the Howard government.
Another reporter tries to draw him out further on Trump’s comments but Albanese doesn’t want to bite.
More criticism rolling in for Trump's 'insane' Gaza takeover plan
“He’s totally lost it,” said the Democratic senator Chris Murphy. “A US invasion of Gaza would lead to the slaughter of thousands of US troops and decades of war in the Middle East. It’s like a bad, sick joke.”
Democratic representative Jake Auchincloss described the proposal as “reckless and unreasonable”.
“We have to look at Trump’s motives,” he told the NewsNation cable channel. “As always, when Trump proposes a policy item, there is a nepotistic, self-serving connection.”
Referring to Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, he said: “They want to turn this into resorts.”
Jon Alterman, head of the Middle East programme at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies, said: “Many Gazans descended from Palestinians who fled parts of present-day Israel and have never been able to return to their previous homes. I’m sceptical many would be willing to leave even a shattered Gaza.”
“That’s insane”, the Democratic Senator Chris Coons told NBC News. “ I can’t think of a place on Earth that would welcome American troops less and where any positive outcome is less likely.”
Justin Amash, a former Republican member of Congress whose father was expelled from his home by Israeli forces in 1948, was appalled. “If the United States deploys troops to forcibly remove Muslims and Christians – like my cousins – from Gaza, then not only will the US be mired in another reckless occupation but it will also be guilty of the crime of ethnic cleansing. No American of good conscience should stand for this.”
Key takeaways from Trump’s bizarre press conference
The US president has unveiled a plan for the US to take long-term ownership of the Gaza Strip.
When we say plan – there’s little in the way of specifics on how such a shock idea would work; nevertheless here are some points from Trump’s press conference with Benjamin Netanyahu:
Updated
Donald Trump has vowed that US would “take over” war ravaged Gaza and “own it”, effectively endorsing the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, in an announcement shocking even by the standards of his norm-shattering presidency, writes the Guardian’s David Smith.
Prior to President’s Trump’s shock press conference Amnesty International described the US as, “showing contempt for international justice” by failing to arrest Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, despite the international criminal court issuing a warrant for his arrest in November last year.
Netanyahu is wanted by the ICC to face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In a series of posts on X, Amnesty wrote:
“By welcoming Israeli PM Netanyahu, wanted by the ICC to face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the United States is showing contempt for international justice.”
“The Biden administration flouted any efforts at international justice for Palestine. Now, by not arresting Netanyahu or subjecting him to US investigations, President Trump is doubling down welcoming him as the first foreign leader to visit the White House since the inauguration.”
“The US has a clear obligation under the Geneva conventions to search for & try or extradite persons accused of having committed or ordered the commission of war crimes. There must be no ‘safe haven’ for individuals alleged to have committed war crimes & crimes against humanity,” Amnesty said.
“The US has been consistently provided with evidence that US-origin weapons contributed to war crimes, and the US continues to violate the obligation to prevent genocide knowing that its weapons are used as part of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.”
If you are just tuning in… In a joint press conference with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US president Trump outlined a bizarre and unprecedented vision for Gaza.
Describing the Gaza strip as a “hell hole” Trump said the US would “take over” the area, and “we will do a good job with it too.”
“We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site,” he said.
“If it’s necessary, we’ll do that, we’re going to take over that piece, we’re going to develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs, and it’ll be something that the entire Middle East can be very proud of.”
Asked who would live there, Trump said it could become a home to “the world’s people” and predicted it might become “the Riviera of the Middle East.”
Trump did not directly respond to a question of how and under what authority the US can take over the land of Gaza and occupy it in the long term.
'Recipe for chaos':" Hamas responds to Trump's shocking Gaza plan
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri condemned Trump’s calls for Palestinians in Gaza to leave as “expulsion from their land”, Reuters news agency reports.
“We consider them a recipe for generating chaos and tension in the region because the people of Gaza will not allow such plans to pass,” he said.
Trump offered no specifics on how a resettlement process could be implemented but his proposal echoed the wishes of Israel’s far right and contradicted former president Joe Biden’s commitment against mass displacement of Palestinians.
The Saudi government, in a statement, has also stressed its rejection of any attempt to displace Palestinians from their land and said it would not establish relations with Israel without establishment of a Palestinian state.
Updated
Some early reactions to Trump’s audacious plan to take ‘ownership’ of Gaza is coming in... No doubt, the start of many reactions to come today.
“Wait what? The U.S. is going to occupy Gaza? We were promised no more endless wars. By my count we are occupying Greenland, Canada, Panama Canal, and now..Gaza?” wrote Californian congressman, Eric Swalwell, in a post on X.
"Our homeland is our homeland," says Palestinian envoy to UN
Before US president Trump suggested that Gaza could be transformed into the ‘Riviera’ of the Middle East, the Palestinian envoy to the United Nations said that world leaders and people should respect Palestinians’ desire to remain in Gaza.
“Our homeland is our homeland, if part of it is destroyed, the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian people selected the choice to return to it,” said Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour. “And I think that leaders and people should respect the wishes of the Palestinian people.”
Mansour did not name Trump but appeared to reject the US president’s proposal.
“Our country and our home is” the Gaza Strip, “it’s part of Palestine,” he said. “We have no home. For those who want to send them to a happy, nice place, let them go back to their original homes inside Israel, there are nice places there, and they will be happy to return to these places.”
Protests outside the White House
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators have gathered outside the White House and appear to be rejecting a proposal to ‘take over Gaza’ that was put forward by US president Donald Trump in an extraordinary press conference earlier today.
The New York Times writes that people in the crowds people were chanting:
“Donald Trump belongs in jail!” and “Palestine is not for sale!”
Saudi Arabia stresses rejection of attempts to displace Palestinians
Reaction to the Trump press conference and the US president’s startling assertion that the US should control Gaza and Palestinians should live elsewhere is starting to come in from the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia has made a statement saying it rejects attempts to displace Palestinians and would not establish relations with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state.
Key takeaways from Trump-Netanyahu press conference
The US president, Donald Trump, and Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, addressed reporters following talks at the White House. Here are the main takeaways from the joint press conference:
In a shock announcement, Trump said the US will “take over” and “own” the Gaza Strip. “We will own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site,” he said, adding that the US will “level” destroyed buildings in the Palestinian territory and “create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area.”
Trump said he envisioned a “long-term” US ownership of Gaza after Palestinians are moved elsewhere. “This is not a decision made lightly,” he said, adding that “everybody I’ve spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land.” He went on to say that Gaza could become “the Riviera of the Middle East” where “the world’s people” could live there, including Palestinians.
Trump did not rule out sending US troops to secure Gaza. “As far as Gaza is concerned, we’ll do what is necessary. If it’s necessary, we’ll do that,” he said. On Trump’s idea of taking over Gaza, Netanyahu said the US president “sees a different future for Gaza”, adding: “I think it’s something that could change history.”
Trump said he would probably announce a position on Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank in the next month. “We haven’t been taking the position on it yet,” he said. Trump added that he planned to visit the Gaza Strip, Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Netanyahu described Trump as “the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House”. The Israeli leader said “we have to finish the job in Gaza”, and said “Israel will end the war by winning the war.”
Updated
Trump says he plans to visit Israel, the Gaza Strip and Saudi Arabia.
He says the Middle East is an “incredible place, so vibrant”, but that “a lot of bad leadership has taken place … including on the American side.”
Trump says he will announce position on Israeli sovereignty over West Bank in the next weeks
Trump says he has not taken a position about Israel sovereignty over the West Bank and would be making an announcement on the issue in the coming weeks.
“We haven’t taken a position on it yet, but we will be,” he says.
We’ll be making an announcement probably on that very specific topic over the next four weeks.
Trump says he sees US holding 'long-term ownership' of Gaza
Trump is asked what authority would allow the US to “take over” the Gaza Strip.
The US president says he sees a “long-term ownership position” which he says will bring “great stability” to the entire Middle East region.
Trump claims that everyone he has spoken to “loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land”.
This is an idea that gotten tremendous … praise from the highest level of leadership.
Updated
Trump says US troops will be deployed to Gaza 'if it's necessary'
Asked whether US troops will be deployed to Gaza, Trump says:
We’ll do what is necessary. If it’s necessary, we’ll do that. We’re going to take over that place.
Trump says he can’t say whether the Gaza ceasefire will hold, adding that “we weren’t helped very much by the Biden administration”.
“We hope it holds,” he adds.
Netanyahu says Israel has to 'finish the job in Gaza'
Netanyahu asks Trump to help secure Israel’s future. “We have to finish the job in Gaza,” he says.
He says that Israel has three goals: to destroy Hamas, secure the release of hostages, and “ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel.”
Netanyahu says he believes that Trump and his “willingness to puncture conventional thinking” will help Israel achieve these goals.
Israel will end the war by winning the war. Israel’s victory will be America’s victory. We will not only win the war working together, we will win the peace with your leadership, Mr President, and our partnership.
Netanyahu says Trump is the 'greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House'
Netanyahu begins his remarks by thanking Donald Trump for inviting him to be the first foreign leader to visit the White House in his second term.
“You are the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House,” he says.
In your first term, you recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. You move the American embassy there. You recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
Trump says he is “hopeful” that the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas can be the beginning of a larger and more enduring peace that will end the bloodshed and killing “once and for all”.
He notes that he signed an executive order on Tuesday withdrawing the US from the UN’s human right council – a body that he described as “antisemitic” – and ending all support for the UN’s Palestinian refugees agency (Unrwa).
Trump says America and Israel will “restore calm and stability” to the region and “expand prosperity, opportunity and hope to our nations and for all people the Middle East.”
Trump says US will 'take over' the Gaza Strip and 'level' it
Trump once again says Gaza is a “demolition site” that is “very dangerous and very precarious”.
He says the Palestinians in Gaza should be moved to a “beautiful area with homes and safety …. so that they can live out their lives in peace and harmony”.
“The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” Trump says.
We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings.
Updated
Trump calls the Gaza Strip a “symbol of death and destruction” for many decades and an “unlucky” place.
He says Gaza should not “go through a process of rebuilding and occupation by the same people that … lived a miserable existence there.”
Instead, he says Palestinians should go to other countries, without naming any specific countries.
“It could be sites or it could be one large site” where people would live “in comfort and peace”, he said.
“They’re not going to be shot at and killed,” Trump says, claiming that the “only reason the Palestinians want to go back to Gaza is that they have no alternative”.
Trump claims the Hamas attacks on 7 October “would have never happened” if he had been the US president at the time.
He says that he and Netanyahu have been discussing “how we can work together to ensure Hamas is eliminated and ultimately restore peace to a very troubled region.”
Trump says US-Israel bond is 'unbreakable' after 'fantastic' talks with Netanyahu
Donald Trump says he is “delighted” to welcome Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House, noting that Netanyahu is the first foreign head of state to visit since Trump’s inauguration.
Trump described talks with Netanyahu as “fantastic” and described the relationship between the US and Israel as “great”.
“Bibi, I want to say it’s an honour to have you with us,” he said.
Over the past four years, the US and the Israeli alliance has been tested more than any time in history. But the bonds of friendship and affection between the American and Israeli people have endured for generations, and they are absolutely unbreakable.
Updated
Trump and Netanyahu hold press conference after White House meeting
The US president, Donald Trump, and Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, are holding a joint press conference from the White House.
Earlier, Trump told reporters Palestinians have “no alternative” but to leave Gaza due to the devastation left by Israel’s war on Hamas, in effect endorsing ethnic cleansing of the territory over the opposition of Palestinians and neighbouring countries.
Benjamin Netanyahu, ahead of talks with Donald Trump, was asked how optimistic he is about reaching the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas.
“We’re going to try,” the Israeli leader replied.
That’s one of the things we’re going to talk about here. When Israel and the United States work together, when President Trump and I work together, the chances go up a lot.
'Our home is Gaza': Palestinian UN ambassador slams Trump's comments
The Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, has slammed Donald Trump’s comments that Palestinians should moved permanently out of Gaza and into a “beautiful area”.
“For those who want to send the Palestinian people to a ‘nice place’, allow them to go back to their original homes in what is now Israel,” Mansour said at news conference.
The Palestinian people want to rebuild Gaza because this is where we belong.
“Our country and our home is the Gaza Strip,” he continued. “It’s part of Palestine.
The Palestinian people selected the choice to return to [Gaza] … I think we should be respecting the wishes of the Palestinian people.
Updated
Key takeaways from Trump's comments as he hosts Netanyahu in White House
US president Donald Trump has welcomed Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to the White House on Tuesday ahead of talks on the fragile Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal.
The two leaders are expected to hold a press conference shortly. Here’s a recap of Trump’s comments to reporters before talks with Netanyahu:
Trump said Palestinians have “no alternative” but to “permanently” leave Gaza due to the devastation left by Israel’s war on Hamas. He described Gaza as a “pure demolition site” and claimed Palestinians would “love to leave Gaza”. “I don’t know how they could want to stay,” he said.
Trump’s comments marked the first time he has publicly floated the permanent relocation of Palestinians from Gaza. The US president’s remarks in effect endorsed ethnic cleansing of the territory over the opposition of Palestinians and the neighbouring countries.
Trump repeated his suggestion that Gaza’s population should be relocated to Jordan and Egypt – something both countries have firmly rejected. Asked where Palestinians should be moved to, he said they could be in Jordan, Egypt or “other places. You could have more than two.” “I think we need another location. I think it should be a location that’s going to make people happy,” he said.
Trump refused to commit to supporting an independent Palestinian state as part of the two-state solution. “Well, a lot of plans change with time,” he said when asked if he was still committed to a plan like the one he laid out in 2020 that called for a Palestinian state.
Donald Trump, taking questions from reporters in the Oval Office, refused to commit to supporting a Palestinian state.
“A lot of plans change with time,” the US president said.
Now we are faced with a situation that’s different … a very complex and difficult situation.
Hamas official says Trump's comments 'a recipe for creating chaos'
A senior Hamas official has dismissed Donald Trump’s suggestion that Palestinians should be permanently relocated from Gaza, saying the US president’s comments were a “a recipe for creating chaos and tension” in the Middle East region.
“We consider it a recipe for creating chaos and tension in the region,” Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement, adding:
Our people in the Gaza Strip will not allow these plans to pass. What is required is an end to the occupation and aggression against our people, not their expulsion from their land.
Another senior Hamas official, Izzat al-Rishq, also criticised Trump for his latest comments, according to Agence-France-Presse.
“Our people in Gaza have thwarted displacement and deportation plans under bombardment for more than 15 months,” Rishq said in a separate statement.
They are rooted in their land and will not accept any schemes aimed at uprooting them from their homeland.
Donald Trump has previously called on Gaza’s neighbouring countries such as Jordan and Egypt to take in Palestinians temporarily while reconstruction takes place in the strip.
But the US president’s comments just now mark the first time he has publicly floated making that resettlement permanent.
“I don’t think people should be going back to Gaza,” Trump said while sitting in the Oval Office with Benjamin Netanyahu.
Updated
Trump calls for the permanent 'resettlement' of all Palestinians from Gaza
Donald Trump has been speaking to reporters ahead of talks with Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, at the White House.
The US president said he would support an effort to permanently resettle Palestinians from Gaza to places where they can live without fear of violence.
Trump described Gaza as a “demolition site”. “The whole thing is a mess. It’s all death,” he said.
I think we need another location … If we can get a beautiful area to resettle people permanently.
He said he believed Palestinians should not be going back to Gaza. “Why would they want to return? The place has been hell,” he said.
Asked how many people he believed should be resettled from Gaza, Trump replied: “All of them.”
Updated
Netanyahu meets with Trump at White House
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has arrived at the White House and begun his historic meeting with Donald Trump, as the first foreign leader to sit down in person with the 47th US president since his inauguration on January 20.
Here are some pictures showing the meet and greet.
Shaking hands.
In the Oval Office.
And a protest in Washington.
Updated
Here are a few more of Donald Trump’s controversial comments about what should happen to the Palestinian residents of Gaza.
They were part of what he said in the White House a little earlier, ahead of meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, where the US president made characteristically blunt, some might say crass, remarks that people would be “thrilled” to leave Gaza now that much of it’s in ruins.
He added, AFP reports, a suggestion that Palestinians should get a “fresh, beautiful piece of land” in either Egypt or Jordan instead.
If we could find the right piece of land, or numerous pieces of land, and build them some really nice places... I think that would be a lot better than going back to Gaza,” Trump said.
Egypt and Jordan have flatly rejected this, and earlier today their leaders stressed:
The need to commit to the united Arab position” that would help achieve peace, according to the Egyptian presidency.
Gazans have also denounced Trump’s idea.
Trump thinks Gaza is a pile of garbage - absolutely not,” said 34-year-old Hatem Azzam, a resident of the southern city of Rafah.
That’s not to say that Rafah isn’t suffering, coming up for 16 months since Israel launched a massive military counteroffensive in Gaza after Hamas, which controls the territory, led an attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
Donald Trump is known more for speaking than for listening but he has said moments ahead of his meeting with Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House this afternoon, with a press conference due an hour from now, that he is “here to listen” to the prime minister.
The US president has indicated however that he was likely to urge Netanyahu to stick to the ceasefire deal with Hamas over Gaza - parts of which have yet to be finalized, Agence France-Presse reports.
Yesterday in Washington, Trump said: “I have no guarantees that the peace is going to hold.”
The current phase of the ceasefire, which began last month, is due to expire on March 1 and talks to secure phase two were meant to start already but have not yet done so, casting a heavy pall of uncertainty over the situation.
Updated
Here are some of the latest news agency pix coming out since a UN assessment that the long-term refugee camp in Jenin in the West Bank is going in “a catastrophic direction”. The events are unfolding since a major operation by the Israeli military began last month, in which large areas had been “completely destroyed in a series of detonations by the Israeli forces,”
according to UNWRA.
Difficult conditions for residents.
Israeli forces continue their operations.
Another image.
Trump says Palestinians have no alternative but to leave Gaza
Donald Trump said Palestinians have no alternative but to leave Gaza, as he reiterated calls for relocating Palestinians from the territory to neighbouring countries Jordan and Egypt.
Trump, speaking from the White House, claimed Palestinians would “love to leave Gaza”, Reuters reports.
“I would think that they would be thrilled,” he said.
Donald Trump spoke to reporters as he signed executive orders preventing the US from providing support to the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) and withdrawing from the UN’s human rights council.
Trump said he believed the UN has “tremendous potential” but “it’s not being well run”. “They’ve got to get their act together,” he said.
Updated
Summary of the day so far
It’s just past 10pm in Tel Aviv, Gaza and Beirut. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
The US president, Donald Trump, is meeting with Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, at the White House later today. Netanyahu is the first foreign leader to be hosted by Trump since his inauguration on 20 January. Their meeting coincides with the start of mediation efforts between Israel and Hamas on the crucial second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal and hostage release.
Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said a three to five year timeline for reconstruction of Gaza is not viable. “It is unfair to have explained to Palestinians that they might be back in five years. That’s just preposterous,” Witkoff told reporters ahead of the Trump-Netanyahu meeting in Washington.
The meeting between Netanyahu and Trump comes as the Middle East region is at a critical junction, amid a fragile Gaza truce, a parallel Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire agreement in Lebanon nearing possible expiration, and concerns about Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Netanyahu is reportedly determined that the second phase of the ceasefire deal with Hamas does not proceed in its current iteration, in which Israeli troops would fully withdraw from Gaza, while Trump has said he wants the truce to continue.
It also comes after Trump’s proposal that more Palestinians in Gaza move to neighbouring countries to “just clean out” the whole strip. US officials, previewing the Netanyahu-Trump talks, said Trump “believes that Gaza is a demolition site, he thinks it is inhumane to force people to live in an area that is not fit for habitation.” On Monday, five Arab foreign ministers and a senior Palestinian official sent a joint letter to the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, insisting that reconstruction in Gaza should be “through direct engagement with and participation of the people of Gaza.”
Talks on the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal have started, a spokesperson for Hamas said. Hamas also accused Israel of delaying and obstructing the flow of aid into Gaza. “What has been implemented in these aspects is much less than what was agreed on,” a Hamas statement said. Netanyahu’s office said Israel would send a delegation to Qatar to continue negotiations this weekend.
The Israeli military said it killed 55 people during operations in the occupied West Bank in January. A spokesperson for Unrwa said an estimated 2,450 to 3,000 families have been displaced from the Tulkarem refugee camp in the West Bank, and that 3,000 families have fled Jenin refugee camp since December. Meanwhile, the Palestinian health ministry said the death toll in Gaza has reached 47,540 and the number of injuries stands at 111,618.
The situation in Jenin camp in the occupied West Bank is heading into a “catastrophic direction,” a spokesperson for the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) warned. Two weeks after the Israeli military launched a large-scale operation in Jenin, the Palestinian city is largely deserted with thousands of people having been forced to flee their homes. Palestinians see Israel’s operation as an attempt to displace them from land they see as the core of a future state in a repeat of events in 1948 that they call the “Nakba”, or catastrophe.
Fifteen Palestinian prisoners freed by Israel under the terms of the Gaza ceasefire agreement arrived in Turkey, the country’s foreign minister Hakan Fidan confirmed. The first phase of the ceasefire deal, which runs 42 days from when it came into effect on 19 January, should see the release of 33 Israeli hostages held by Hamas in return for the freeing of around 1,900 prisoners, mostly Palestinians, being held in Israeli jails. So far, Hamas has released 13 Israeli hostages.
Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, said his government aims to restore ties with the US but has not yet had any contact with the Trump administration. He called for US sanctions on Syria to be lifted, saying they pose the “gravest risk” to the country and its recovery from civil war. Sharaa held talks with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in Ankara on Tuesday on the “joint steps to be taken for economic recovery, sustainable stability and security” in Syria, according to Erdogan’s office.
Trump signs executive order stopping Unrwa funding and withdrawing US from UN human rights council
Donald Trump has signed an executive order withdrawing the US from the UN human rights council and prohibiting future funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa).
US funding to Unrwa was suspended in 2024 under Joe Biden’s administration, after Israel accused a handful of Unrwa employees of participating in the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023.
A series of investigations, including one led by the French former foreign minister Catherine Colonna, found some “neutrality related issues” at Unrwa – but emphasised Israel had not provided evidence for its headline allegation.
Trump’s first administration cut funding to the agency in 2018 before the Biden administration restarted it again in 2021.
The first Trump administration also withdrew the US from the UN’s human rights council in 2018 and the Biden administration rejoined the body three years later.
Iran’s reformists are pressing for the country to make concessions on financial transparency to allow it to reconnect to the global economic system and send a signal to the Trump White House that it is serious about renegotiating a new relationship with the west, including around its nuclear programme.
Tehran is expected in the next week to take decisions that would mean it would be taken off the blacklist of the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the body that tackles money laundering and terrorist financing.
Currently, the only countries on the blacklist are Iran, North Korea and Myanmar. Russia, China and the Iranian private sector are all urging Tehran to take the steps that would end the blacklisting. But conservatives and the security establishment are resisting, saying such moves would expose Iran’s financial workings, including the funding of groups such as Hezbollah.
The transparency would also allow the west to target sanctions against Iran more effectively.
Trump envoy says Gaza rebuilding timeline is 'preposterous'
Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said a three to five year timeline for reconstruction of Gaza, as set out in the temporary truce agreement between Israel and Hamas, is not viable.
“It is unfair to have explained to Palestinians that they might be back in five years. That’s just preposterous,” Witkoff told reporters outside the White House ahead of a visit by Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Witkoff played a key role in helping the Biden administration secure a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas before Trump took office in January.
“We’re in phase 2 now,” Witkoff told reporters, adding that he had met with Netanyahu on Monday to discuss parameters for the policy negotiations.
Updated
The US Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said he will meet with Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, in Florida on Thursday.
The meeting comes as Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, visits the US and will coincide with the scheduled resumption of indirect talks this week between Israel and Hamas on the crucial second phase of a Gaza ceasefire deal and hostage release.
Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump will likely appear in lock step publicly when they meet this afternoon despite facing sharp policy differences behind closed doors.
“You’ll see a very lovey dovey exterior,” a source told CNN. “Inside, it’s an epic meeting.”
The Israeli leader is determined that the second phase of the ceasefire deal with Hamas does not proceed in its current iteration, in which Israeli troops would fully withdraw from Gaza, the source told the outlet.
Trump, however, has said he wants the truce to continue. “The message that was conveyed to Israel was, ‘Trump is allergic to war,’’’ the source said.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has released a photograph it said showed him preparing for his meeting later today with the US president, Donald Trump.
The photograph shows Netanyahu with his top aides, military secretary Maj Gen Roman Gofman, strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer, chief of staff Tzachi Braverman and international affairs adviser, Caroline Glick.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu preparing for his meeting, later today, with US President Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/ctII2IC2Yb
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) February 4, 2025
Hamas’ military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, held a funeral on Tuesday for its weapons and combat services commander, Ghazi Abu Tamaa, who was killed in an Israeli strike.
Footage by Associated Press showed fighters with the group riding in vehicles, raising their rifles in tribute and playing music while carrying a poster bearing his image.
The group’s spokesperson, Abu Obeida, confirmed Abu Tamaa’s death as well as the death of senior leader, Mohammed Deif, in a video statement Thursday.
Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting in Washington later today comes after five Arab foreign ministers and a senior Palestinian official sent a joint letter to the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, opposing Trump’s proposal to displace Palestinians from Gaza.
“Reconstruction in Gaza should be through direct engagement with and participation of the people of Gaza,” stated the letter, signed by Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the Palestinian Authority.
Palestinians will live in their land and help rebuild it and should not be stripped of their agency during reconstruction and must take ownership of the process with the support of the international community.
The letter also warned Rubio against possible deportation of Palestinians by Israel, writing:
Palestinians do not want to leave their land. We support their position unequivocally. Such a move will add a new dangerous dimension to the conflict.
Here’s more from Trump administration officials who defended the US president’s proposal that more Palestinians in Gaza move to neighbouring countries to “just clean out” the whole strip.
US officials, previewing Donald Trump’s White House talks later today with Benjamin Netanyahu, sought to soften what was widely seen as Trump’s call for mass displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, Reuters reports.
They stressed that the US wants to work with its Arab partners and Israel, stopping short of explicitly reiterating Trump’s call for Jordan and Egypt to take in more Palestinians without retracting his suggestion.
Trump “is looking for solutions to help the people of Gaza have normal lives while the Gaza Strip is being rebuilt, and he is trying to look at this in a realistic way,” an official said.
Trump sees Gaza as 'demolition site', says US official
Donald Trump sees the Gaza Strip as a “demolition site” and believes it will take between 10 and 15 years to rebuild and it would be “inhumane” to force people to live on uninhabitable land, a Trump administration official has said.
The official, speaking before a meeting between Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, said:
Trump believes that Gaza is a demolition site, he thinks it is inhumane to force people to live in an area that is not fit for habitation.
Last month, Trump described Gaza as a “massive demolition site” and proposed that large numbers of Palestinians should leave the whole strip and move to neighbouring countries such as Jordan and Egypt, either “temporarily or could be long-term”.
His comments were rejected by US allies in the region and attacked as dangerous, illegal and unworkable by lawyers and activists.
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Hamas has accused Israel of delaying and obstructing the flow of aid into Gaza as talks about the second phase of the ceasefire get underway.
“What has been implemented in these aspects is much less than what was agreed on,” a statement read.
A spokesperson for the group on Tuesday said it had started “communications and negotiations” over the next phase via international mediators.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would send a delegation to Qatar to continue negotiations this weekend.
The second phase is expected to be more difficult to agree than the first.
Hamas has said it won’t release the last hostages until Israel withdraws all its troops from Gaza, a move Israel has said it won’t make until it has destroyed Hamas’ military and political capabilities.
Syria’s interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa has held talks in Ankara with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The talks began shortly after Sharaa arrived in the Turkish capital on board an official Turkish plane, the AFP reported.
Sharaa flew in from Saudi Arabia, where he had been seeking help to finance Syria’s reconstruction and kickstart its economy following the country’s civil war.
Erdogan greeted Sharaa at the entrance of Ankara’s vast presidential palace complex.
Turkey was a strong backer of the groups that deposed former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad – including the one led by Sharaa, HTS – and is considered one of the new administration’s key allies.
It is also keen to secure Damascus’ support against the Kurdish-led, US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in northeastern Syria, which Ankara opposes over its ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a separatist group outlawed in Turkey.
Erdogan’s office said the talks would address “joint steps to be taken for economic recovery, sustainable stability and security” in Syria.
Turkey shares a 910-km (565-mile) border with Syria and by 2022 hosted 3.8 million refugees from the civil war, more than any other country.
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The Israeli military says it killed 55 people during operations in the West Bank in January.
In a statement, it said those killed were “terrorists” and that among them were people involved in planned attacks on Israeli civilians.
It added that “approximately 380 wanted terrorists” had been arrested.
It said operations continued in three areas in the north of the territory, including the Jenin refugee camp.
Death toll in Gaza at 47,540, says Hamas-run health ministry
The death toll in Gaza since Israel launched its operation there after the 7 October attacks has reached 47,540, the Hamas-run Palestinian Ministry of Health has said.
It added that the estimated number of injuries now stands at 111,618.
The interim president of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has said his government aims to restore ties with the US but has not yet had any contact with the Trump administration.
Speaking to the Economist, Sharaa also called for US sanctions on Syria to be lifted, saying they pose the “gravest risk” to the country and its recovery from civil war.
“I believe that President Trump seeks peace in the area, and it is a top priority to lift the sanctions,” he said.
“The United States of America does not have any interest in maintaining the suffering of the Syrian people.”
The US and other Western powers imposed sanctions on the regime of former president Bashar al-Assad over his crackdown on protests that began in 2011 and his conduct of the subsequent civil war.
The toppling of Assad in December has led to calls for the sanctions to be lifted.
Last week, the European Union’s foreign ministers agreed to a “step-by-step” approach to relax some of the sanctions it has in place.
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The second Israeli soldier killed in the attack at a military checkpoint in the West Bank earlier today has been named as 43-year-old reservist Avraham Tzvi Tzivka Friedman.
The other man killed was earlier named as Ofer Yung, 39, a squad commander from Tel Aviv.
Both men have also now been pictured.
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More now on that gun attack earlier today at a military checkpoint in the West Bank in which two Israeli troops were killed.
In a statement, Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad has described the attack as “heroic” and said “the resistance will continue until the occupation is defeated”.
Major General Avi Bluth, the Israeli commander responsible for operations the West Bank, vowed to continue the current offensive in the north of the territory in order to “neutralise” militants in the area.
“This morning’s engagement with a despicable terrorist who emerged from the northern Samaria region is the demonstration of the necessity of the counterterrorism operation,” he told journalists while visiting the scene of the attack.
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Hamas says talks on second phase of Gaza ceasefire deal have started
Talks on the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal have started, a spokesperson for Hamas has said.
It comes as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu gets ready to meet US President Donald Trump in Washington later today.
The meeting comes at a critical juncture as the Israeli military’s deadly raids in the West Bank, particularly in Jenin, are undermining the fragile ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel, according to the UN.
Netanyahu has said the existing deal is for a temporary ceasefire and that Israel has reserved “the right to return to fighting” against Hamas at a future date. We are currently in stage one of the three-part deal, which began on 19 January 2025.
The schedule is going to plan as it was hoped that sixteen days after the start of stage one, negotiations would begin on the second stage, during which time it is hoped a permanent ceasefire will be established and Israeli forces will make a complete withdrawal as remaining living hostages are freed.
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15 freed Palestinian prisoners have arrived in Turkey, foreign minister says
15 Palestinian prisoners freed by Israel under the terms of the Gaza ceasefire agreement have arrived in Turkey, the country’s foreign minister Hakan Fidan has confirmed.
“A few days ago, 15 Palestinians came to Turkey via Cairo after they were released,” Fidan told a joint press conference with his Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty.
The former detainees were issued visas by the Turkish embassy in Cairo, he said.
The first phase of the ceasefire deal, which runs 42 days from when it came into effect on 19 January, should see the release of 33 Israeli hostages held by Hamas in return for the freeing of around 1,900 prisoners, mostly Palestinians, being held in Israeli jails.
Upon their release, many of those prisoners were to be permanently exiled, with Fidan saying in Doha on Sunday that Turkey, which has been a vocal opponent of Israel’s war on Gaza, could take in a number of them.
So far, Hamas has released 13 Israeli hostages. All of them were alive. Five Thai hostages have also been freed by the Palestinian militant group but under a separate agreement.
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The ceasefire in Gaza has allowed residents to begin the process of moving some of the rubble and debris left by Isreal’s operations in the territory.
Pictures show diggers being used to clear space and open a road in southern Gaza earlier today.
We have some voices from some of the people affected by the Israeli operation in the Jenin refugee camp.
Khalil Huwail, 39, is a father of four and has been forced to leave the area with his family.
“We stayed at home until the drone came to us and started calling for us to evacuate the house and evacuate the neighbourhood because they wanted to carry out an explosion,” he told Reuters.
“We left in the clothes we were wearing. We couldn’t carry anything. That was forbidden.”
He added that the camp was now “completely empty” but vowed that “we will go back to our homes”.
“We will not migrate to another area,” he said.
Kamal Abu al-Rub, the governor of Jenin, said that if the pictures of what Jenin now looks like were not captioned, “people would think it’s Gaza”.
“Same picture, different location,” he said.
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Jenin heading in 'catastrophic direction', says UN
Recent weeks have seen a major operation by the Israeli military in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.
The camp contains mostly people displaced in 1948 as the state of Israel was being established and their descendants.
On 21 January, just days after the ceasefire in Gaza began, Isreal launched Operation Iron Wall, saying its aim was to preserve its “freedom of action” in the West Bank and eliminate terror threats.
Jenin is known to be home to fighters from a number of militant groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
The operation has so far seen dozens of buildings demolished and at least 25 people killed.
On Tuesday, Juliette Touma, a spokeswoman for the UN agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, said the camp was “going into a catastrophic direction”, adding that large areas had been “completely destroyed in a series of detonations by the Israeli forces”.
A statement from the UN on Monday said that, because Israel has severed contact with UNRWA, the group had received no warning ahead of the detonations and that they had put “civilians lives at risk”.
It added that Israel’s actions “undermine the fragile ceasefire reached in Gaza, and risk a new escalation”.
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Two Israeli soldiers killed in West Bank shooting
Two Israeli soldiers have been killed and eight have been wounded after a gunman opened fire on troops in the occupied West Bank.
The incident occurred today at a military checkpoint near Tayasir in the Jordan Valley.
The attacked opened fire with an M16 automatic rifle on a soldier coming out of a fortified bunker, Israeli media outlet Ynet reported.
The assailant was then killed in a gunfight.
The Israeli military named one of the soldiers killed as Ofer Yung, 39, a squad commander from Tel Aviv. The name of the second person killed has not yet been released.
Two of the wounded soldiers were in a serious condition, with the other six lightly injured, the military added.
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More now on that visit to the US by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Ahead of his departure, Netanyahu said the fact he would be the first foreign leader to meet Donald Trump since his return to the White House was a “testimony to the strength of the Israeli-American alliance.”
He said the two would discuss “victory over Hamas”, confronting Iran, and freeing all remaining hostages in Gaza.
Netanyahu was originally scheduled to return to Israel on Thursday, but his office has now said he will remain in Washington until Saturday night, citing the “many requests for meetings from US officials” he had received.
Netanyahu will be in the US when the next planned release of Israeli hostages takes place.
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the latest news from the Middle East.
Today, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in Washington for talks with US President Donald Trump about the ceasefire in Gaza.
Ahead of the meeting, Netanyahu said Israel’s operations against Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran had “redrawn the map” in the Middle East.
“I believe that working closely with President Trump we can redraw it even further, and for the better,” he said.
In other developments:
Trump said on Monday he did not known whether the ceasefire deal in Gaza was going to last. “I have no guarantees that the peace is going to hold,” he told reporters.
Hamas is ready to begin talks on the details of a second phase of the ceasefire, two officials from the group told the AFP on Monday. “We are waiting for the mediators to initiate the next round of negotiation,” said one.
Israel continued its operations in the West Bank city of Jenin for a 14th consecutive day, with dozens of homes demolished and at least 25 people killed, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa
The Palestinian ministry of health said the Israeli military had killed at least 70 people, including 10 children in the West Bank, since the beginning of 2025.
More than 545,000 Palestinians are estimated to have crossed from southern Gaza to northern Gaza since the ceasefire came into effect, according to figures by the UN.
The Trump administration has asked congressional leaders to approve transfers of roughly $1bn worth of bombs and other military hardware to Israel, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing US officials. The sales would include 4,700 1,000-pound bombs as well as armoured bulldozers built by Caterpillar.
The head of Amnesty International, Agnes Callamard, said the ceasefire should not erase the events of the last 15 months and that Israel should held accountable for “genocide”. “If you have any sense of the future, you need a reckoning for the past,” she told Al Jazeera.
The office of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said the ongoing Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank amounts to “ethnic cleansing” and urged the US to intervene. A spokesperson said the presidency “condemned the occupation authorities’ expansion of their comprehensive war on our Palestinian people in the West Bank to implement their plans aimed at displacing citizens and ethnic cleansing”.
A car bomb killed at least 15 people in the northern Syrian city of Manbij. The attack was the second in three days and the deadliest since Bashar al-Assad was deposed in December. The office of the president vowed that those responsible would be help accountable.
Stay with us for updates on all the latest throughout the day.
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