MUGHRAQA, Gaza Strip: Israeli forces withdrew from a key corridor in Gaza on Sunday, Israeli officials and Hamas said, the latest commitment under a tenuous ceasefire that faces a major test over whether the sides can negotiate its planned extension.
Israelis’ shock at the sight of three emaciated hostages released Saturday has added pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend the truce instead of returning to fighting when the ceasefire’s first phase ends in early March.
Israel and Hamas appear to have made little progress on negotiating the deal’s second phase, which is meant to extend the ceasefire and lead to the release of more Israeli hostages held by Hamas. Talks had been due to start on Feb. 3.
Netanyahu was sending a delegation to Qatar, a key mediator, but it included low-level officials, sparking speculation that it won’t lead to a breakthrough. Netanyahu is also expected to convene key Cabinet ministers this week.
The 4-mile (6-kilometer) Netzarim corridor separating northern and southern Gaza had been used by Israel as a military zone during the 16-month war, but no troops were seen in the vicinity Sunday. As the ceasefire began last month, Israel began allowing hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians to cross Netzarim and return to the north.
Separately on Sunday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said two women, one of them eight months pregnant, were killed by Israeli gunfire in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli troops have been carrying out an operation.
The ceasefire’s extension is not guaranteed
The ceasefire that began on Jan. 19 has held, raising hopes that the war that led to seismic shifts in the Middle East may be headed toward an end.
But it remains fragile. On Sunday, civil defense first responders in Gaza said three people were killed by Israeli fire east of Gaza City. Israel’s military noted “several hits” after warning shots were fired and again warned Palestinians from approaching its forces.
Cars heaped with belongings headed north through a road that crosses Netzarim. Under the deal, Israel should allow cars to cross uninspected.
The Israeli officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss troop movement with the media, did not say how many soldiers withdrew or to where. Troops remain along Gaza’s borders with Israel and Egypt.
Hamas spokesperson Abdel Latif Al-Qanoua said the troops’ withdrawal showed the militant group had “forced the enemy to submit to our demands” and that it thwarted “Netanyahu’s illusion of achieving total victory.”
Israel has said it won’t agree to a complete withdrawal from Gaza until Hamas’ military and political capabilities are eliminated. Hamas says it won’t hand over the last hostages until Israel removes all troops from the territory.
During the 42-day first phase of the ceasefire, Hamas is gradually releasing 33 Israeli hostages captured during its Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war in exchange for the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and a flood of humanitarian aid to Gaza. The deal also stipulates that Israeli troops will pull back from populated areas.
In the second phase, all remaining living hostages would be released in return for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and “sustainable calm.” But details beyond that are unclear.
Trump’s Gaza proposal poses a challenge
Families of hostages gathered Sunday in Tel Aviv to again urge Netanyahu to extend the ceasefire. “We know that for a year, that they are dying there, so we need to finish this deal in a hurry,” said Ayala Metzger, the daughter-in-law of hostage Yoram Metzger, who died in captivity.
But Netanyahu is also under pressure from far-right political allies to resume the war after the first phase so that Hamas, which carried out the deadliest attack on Israelis in their history, can be defeated.
Complicating things further is a proposal by US President Donald Trump to relocate the population of Gaza and take ownership of the Palestinian territory. Israel has expressed openness to the idea while Hamas, the Palestinians and much of the world have rejected it outright.
The suggested plan has moral, legal and practical obstacles. It may have been proposed as a negotiation tactic by Trump to pressure Hamas or make an opening gambit in discussions aimed at securing a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
That deal appeared to be rattled on Sunday as Saudi Arabia condemned remarks by Netanyahu who said Palestinians could create their state there.
Saudi Arabia said his remarks “aim to divert attention from the successive crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against our Palestinian brothers in Gaza, including the ethnic cleansing they are being subjected to.”
Qatar on Sunday called Netanyahu’s comments “provocative” and a blatant violation of international law.
The war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’ attack that killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostage, has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not differentiate between fighters and noncombatants in their count. Vast parts of the territory have been obliterated.
Violence in the occupied West Bank
Violence has surged in the West Bank throughout the war and has intensified in recent days with an Israeli military operation in the territory’s north.
The shooting of the pregnant woman, Sundus Shalabi, happened in the Nur Shams urban refugee camp, a focal point of Israeli operations against Palestinian militants. The Palestinian Health Ministry said another woman, Rahaf Al-Ashqar, 21, was also killed.
Israel’s military said its police had opened an investigation.
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Sunday the expansion of the operation, which started in Jenin several weeks ago. He said it was meant to prevent Iran from establishing a foothold in the West Bank.
Israeli forces withdraw from key Gaza corridor as concerns mount over extending ceasefire
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Israeli forces withdraw from key Gaza corridor as concerns mount over extending ceasefire
Syrian army pushes into Aleppo district after Kurdish groups reject withdrawal
- Two Syrian security officials told Reuters the ceasefire efforts had failed and that the army would seize the neighborhood by force
ALEPPO, Syria: The Syrian army said it would push into the last Kurdish-held district of Aleppo city on Friday after Kurdish groups there rejected a government demand for their fighters to withdraw under a ceasefire deal.
The violence in Aleppo has brought into focus one of the main faultlines in Syria as the country tries to rebuild after a devastating war, with Kurdish forces resisting efforts by President Ahmed Al-Sharaa’s Islamist-led government to bring their fighters under centralized authority.
At least nine civilians have been killed and more than 140,000 have fled their homes in Aleppo, where Kurdish forces are trying to cling on to several neighborhoods they have run since the early days of the war, which began in 2011.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Standoff pits government against Kurdish forces
• Sharaa says Kurds are ‘fundamental’ part of Syria
• More than 140,000 have fled homes due to unrest
• Turkish, Syrian foreign ministers discuss Aleppo by phone
ِA ceasefire was announced by the defense ministry overnight, demanding the withdrawal of Kurdish forces to the Kurdish-held northeast. That would effectively end Kurdish control over the pockets of Aleppo that Kurdish forces have held.
CEASEFIRE ‘FAILED,’ SECURITY OFFICIALS SAY
But in a statement, Kurdish councils that run Aleppo’s Sheikh Maksoud and Ashrafiyah districts said calls to leave were “a call to surrender” and that Kurdish forces would instead “defend their neighborhoods,” accusing government forces of intensive shelling.
Hours later, the Syrian army said that the deadline for Kurdish fighters to withdraw had expired, and that it would begin a military operation to clear the last Kurdish-held neighborhood of Sheikh Maksoud.
Two Syrian security officials told Reuters the ceasefire efforts had failed and that the army would seize the neighborhood by force.
The Syrian defense ministry had earlier carried out strikes on parts of Sheikh Maksoud that it said were being used by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to launch attacks on the “people of Aleppo.” It said on Friday that SDF strikes had killed three army soldiers.
Kurdish security forces in Aleppo said some of the strikes hit a hospital, calling it a war crime. The defense ministry disputed that, saying the structure was a large arms depot and that it had been destroyed in the resumption of strikes on Friday.
It posted an aerial video that it said showed the location after the strikes, and said secondary explosions were visible, proving it was a weapons cache.
Reuters could not immediately verify the claim.
The SDF is a powerful Kurdish-led security force that controls northeastern Syria. It says it withdrew its fighters from Aleppo last year, leaving Kurdish neighborhoods in the hands of the Kurdish Asayish police.
Under an agreement with Damascus last March the SDF was due to integrate with the defense ministry by the end of 2025, but there has been little progress.
FRANCE, US SEEK DE-ESCALATION
France’s foreign ministry said it was working with the United States to de-escalate.
A ministry statement said President Emmanuel Macron had urged Sharaa on Thursday “to exercise restraint and reiterated France’s commitment to a united Syria where all segments of Syrian society are represented and protected.”
A Western diplomat told Reuters that mediation efforts were focused on calming the situation and producing a deal that would see Kurdish forces leave Aleppo and provide security guarantees for Kurds who remained.
The diplomat said US envoy Tom Barrack was en route to Damascus. A spokesperson for Barrack declined to comment. Washington has been closely involved in efforts to promote integration between the SDF — which has long enjoyed US military support — and Damascus, with which the United States has developed close ties under President Donald Trump.
The ceasefire declared by the government overnight said Kurdish forces should withdraw by 9 a.m. (0600 GMT) on Friday, but no one withdrew overnight, Syrian security sources said.
Barrack had welcomed what he called a “temporary ceasefire” and said Washington was working intensively to extend it beyond the 9 a.m. deadline. “We are hopeful this weekend will bring a more enduring calm and deeper dialogue,” he wrote on X.
TURKISH WARNING
Turkiye views the SDF as a terrorist organization linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party and has warned of military action if it does not honor the integration agreement.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, speaking on Thursday, expressed hope that the situation in Aleppo would be normalized “through the withdrawal of SDF elements.”
Though Sharaa, a former Al-Qaeda commander who belongs to the Sunni Muslim majority, has repeatedly vowed to protect minorities, bouts of violence in which government-aligned fighters have killed hundreds of Alawites and Druze have spread alarm in minority communities over the last year.
The Kurdish councils in Aleppo said Damascus could not be trusted “with our security and our neighborhoods,” and that attacks on the areas aimed to bring about displacement.
Sharaa, in a phone call with Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani on Friday, affirmed that the Kurds were “a fundamental part of the Syrian national fabric,” the Syrian presidency said.
Neither the government nor the Kurdish forces have announced a toll of casualties among their fighters from the recent clashes.
