MUGHRAQA, Gaza Strip: New details and growing shock over emaciated hostages renewed pressure Sunday on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend a fragile Gaza ceasefire beyond the first phase, even as US President Donald Trump repeated his pledge that the US would take control of the Palestinian enclave.
Talks on the second phase, meant to see more hostages released and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, were due to start Feb. 3. But Israel and Hamas appear to have made little progress, even as Israeli forces withdrew Sunday from a Gaza corridor in the latest commitment to the truce.
Netanyahu sent a delegation to Qatar, a key mediator, but it included low-level officials, sparking speculation that it won’t lead to a breakthrough. Netanyahu, who returned after a US visit to meet with Trump, is expected to convene security Cabinet ministers on Tuesday.
Trump weighs in on Gaza again
Speaking on Sunday, Trump repeated his pledge to take control of the Gaza Strip.
“I’m committed to buying and owning Gaza. As far as us rebuilding it, we may give it to other states in the Middle East to build sections of it. Other people may do it through our auspices. But we’re committed to owning it, taking it, and making sure that Hamas doesn’t move back. There’s nothing to move back into. The place is a demolition site. The remainder will be demolished,” he told reporters onboard Air Force One as he traveled to the Super Bowl.
Trump said Arab nations would agree to take in Palestinians after speaking with him and insisted Palestinians would leave Gaza if they had a choice.
“They don’t want to return to Gaza. If we could give them a home in a safer area — the only reason they’re talking about returning to Gaza is they don’t have an alternative. When they have an alternative, they don’t want to return to Gaza.”
Trump also suggested he was losing patience with the deal after seeing the emaciated hostages released this week.
“I watched the hostages come back today and they looked like Holocaust survivors. They were in horrible condition. They were emaciated. It looked like many years ago, the Holocaust survivors, and I don’t know how much longer we can take that,” he said.
Israel has expressed openness to the idea of resettling Gaza’s population — ”a revolutionary, creative vision,” Netanyahu told his Cabinet on Sunday — while Hamas, the Palestinians and much of the world have rejected it.
Egypt said it will host an emergency Arab summit on Feb. 27 to discuss the “new and dangerous developments.”
Trump’s proposal has moral, legal and practical obstacles. It may have been proposed as a negotiation tactic to pressure Hamas or an opening gambit in discussions aimed at securing a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia condemned Netanyahu’s recent comment that Palestinians could create their state there, saying it aimed to divert attention from crimes committed by “the Israeli occupation against our Palestinian brothers in Gaza, including the ethnic cleansing they are being subjected to.”
Qatar called Netanyahu’s comment “provocative” and a blatant violation of international law.
Hostage families say time is running out
Families of remaining hostages said time is running out as some survivors described being barefoot and in chains.
“We cannot let the hostages remain there. There is no other way. I am appealing to the cabinet,” said Ella Ben Ami, daughter of a hostage released Saturday, adding she now understands the toll of captivity is much worse than imagined.
The father of a remaining hostage, Kobi Ohel, told Israel’s Channel 13 the newly released men said his son, Alon, and others “live off half a pita to a full pita a day. These are not human conditions.” Ohel’s mother, Idit, sobbed as she told Channel 12 her son has been chained for over a year.
Michael Levy said his brother, the newly released Or Levy, had been barefoot and hungry for 16 months. “The decision-makers knew exactly what his condition was and what everyone else’s condition was, and they did not do enough to bring him back with the urgency that was needed,” he said.
On Saturday, as Israelis reeled, former defense minister Yoav Gallant said on social media that the deterioration in hostages’ conditions was something “Israel has known about for some time.”
The ceasefire’s extension is not guaranteed
The ceasefire that began on Jan. 19 has held, raising hopes that the 16-month war that led to seismic shifts in the Middle East may be headed toward an end.
The latest step was Israel forces’ withdrawal from the 4-mile (6-kilometer) Netzarim corridor separating northern and southern Gaza, which was used as a military zone. 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.
But the deal remains fragile. On Sunday, civil defense first responders in Gaza said Israeli fire killed three people east of Gaza City. Israel’s military noted “several hits” after firing warning shots and warned Palestinians against approaching its forces.
Cars piled with belongings headed north. Under the deal, Israel should allow cars to cross Netzarim uninspected. 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 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.
During the ceasefire’s 42-day first phase, 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.
Israel has said Hamas confirmed that eight of the 33 are dead.
Families of the hostages gathered in Tel Aviv to urge Netanyahu to extend the ceasefire, but he is also under pressure from far-right political allies to resume the war. Trump’s proposal for the US to take control of the Gaza Strip may also complicate the situation.
“They are dying there, so we need to finish this deal in a hurry,” said Ayala Metzger, daughter-in-law of hostage Yoram Metzger, who died in captivity.
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. Much of the territory has been obliterated.
Violence in the occupied West Bank
Violence has surged in the occupied West Bank during the war and intensified in recent days with an Israeli military operation against Palestinian militants in the territory’s north.
On Sunday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli gunfire killed two women, one of them, Sundus Shalabi, eight months pregnant. It said Rahaf Al-Ashqar, 21, was also killed. The shooting occurred in the Nur Shams urban refugee camp, a focal point of Israeli operations.
Israel’s military said its police had opened an investigation.
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz on Sunday announced the expansion of the operation that started in Jenin several weeks ago. He said it was meant to prevent Iran — allied with Hamas — from establishing a foothold in the West Bank.
Trump repeats pledge to take control of Gaza even as pressure mounts to renew ceasefire
https://arab.news/bzr5m
Trump repeats pledge to take control of Gaza even as pressure mounts to renew ceasefire
- “I’m committed to buying and owning Gaza. As far as us rebuilding it, we may give it to other states in the Middle East to build sections of it,” Trump said
- He said Arab nations would agree to take in Palestinians after speaking with him and insisted Palestinians would leave Gaza if they had a choice
Iran-backed Houthis claim fourth attack against US warships
- The U.S. launched a wave of strikes in areas of Yemen controlled by the Iran-aligned Houthis, who said last week they were resuming attacks on Red Sea shipping to support Palestinians in Gaza
SANAA: Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said on Wednesday they launched another attack against American warships in the Red Sea, their fourth time firing on the carrier group in 72 hours.
The Houthis’ military spokesperson said the operation entailed “a number of cruise missiles and drones, targeting the aircraft carrier ‘USS Harry Truman’ and a number of enemy warships,” adding that the attack was “the fourth within 72 hours.”
After one of the deadliest days in Gaza, here’s the conflict in numbers
- The renewed Israeli offensive threatens to escalate the spiraling humanitarian crisis for Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians
JERUSALEM: Israel’s wave of predawn airstrikes across Gaza shattered two months of relative calm during a ceasefire with Hamas. Tuesday was one of the deadliest days in Gaza since the war began, with over 400 Palestinians killed and hundreds more wounded.
The first phase of the ceasefire saw Hamas release 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for Israel releasing nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. The deal also called on Israel to ramp up delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza. After those exchanges wrapped up, Israel cut off all aid to Gaza to pressure Hamas to extend the ceasefire.
The renewed Israeli offensive threatens to escalate the spiraling humanitarian crisis for Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians. Hamas says the pounding bombardments put the 24 remaining hostages’ lives in danger.
Here’s a look at the 17-month-old conflic t by the numbers, sourced from the Gaza Health Ministry, the Israeli military and government, and the United Nations.
Current situation inside Gaza
Palestinians killed Tuesday — at least 404
Women and children killed Tuesday — 263
Senior Hamas officials killed Tuesday — 6
Aid trucks Israel let into Gaza since March 2 — zero
Overall war statistics
Palestinians killed — at least 48,981
(The Hamas-linked Health Ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tally, but says more than half of them were women and children.)
Palestinians wounded — at least 112,603
Average number of aid trucks entering Gaza each day in December — 93 (UN), 163 (Israel)
Aid trucks entering Gaza each day between the start of the ceasefire and March 2 — 600
People killed in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 — 1,200
Israeli soldiers killed in Israel’s subsequent ground operation in Gaza — 407
Palestinians displaced at war’s peak — 1.9 million, or roughly 90 percent of the population
Hostages/Prisoners
Living hostages held by Hamas — 24
Non-Israelis — 1 Thai and 1 Nepalese (alive), 2 Thais and 1 Tanzanian (dead)
Living Israeli hostages — 22, including 4 soldiers
Bodies of hostages held by Hamas — 35, including 9 soldiers
Hostages released during recent ceasefire — 33
Hostages taken on Oct. 7, 2023 — 251
Palestinian prisoners released during recent ceasefire — more than 1,700
Why did Netanyahu end the Gaza ceasefire?
- Trump’s Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, said Hamas was claiming flexibility in public while making “entirely impractical” demands
- The agreement reached in January, under pressure from the outgoing Biden administration and the incoming Trump one, called for a phased ceasefire aimed at freeing all the hostages abducted in Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023, attack and ending the war it caused
JERUSALEM: The wave of Israeli strikes that killed hundreds of Palestinians across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday was the culmination of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to get out of the ceasefire with Hamas that he agreed to in January.
Since the start of the war, Netanyahu has faced dueling, possibly incompatible pressures: Families of the hostages want him to cut a deal with Hamas to free them, while his far-right coalition partners want to continue the war with the aim of annihilating the militant group.
On Tuesday, he appeared to cast his lot with the latter — and US President Donald Trump’s administration has backed Netanyahu’s decision to unilaterally walk away from the ceasefire it took credit for brokering.
Both Israel and the United States blame the renewed hostilities on Hamas’ refusal to release more hostages before negotiations on ending the war proceed — which was not part of the ceasefire agreement. Israel has accused Hamas of preparing for new attacks, without providing evidence. The militant group has denied those allegations.
Hamas — which has yet to respond militarily to the Israeli strikes — has spent weeks calling for serious talks on the ceasefire agreement’s second phase, which calls for the release of the remaining living hostages in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a lasting ceasefire.
Those talks were supposed to begin in early February. Now they may never happen.
What did the ceasefire agreement say?
The agreement reached in January, under pressure from the outgoing Biden administration and the incoming Trump one, called for a phased ceasefire aimed at freeing all the hostages abducted in Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023, attack and ending the war it caused.
Under the first phase, which ran from Jan. 19 to March 1, Hamas released 25 Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight others in return for nearly 1,800 Palestinian prisoners, including senior militants serving life sentences for deadly attacks. Israeli forces pulled back to a buffer zone, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians returned to what remained of their homes, and there was a surge of humanitarian aid.
Each side accused the other of violations, and Israeli strikes killed dozens of Palestinians the military accused of engaging in militant activities or entering no-go zones. But the truce held.
Still, the second phase was always seen as far more difficult.
Through months of negotiations, Netanyahu had repeatedly cast doubt on it, insisting Israel was committed to returning all the hostages and destroying Hamas’ military and governing capabilities — two war goals that many believe are irreconcilable.
In a TV interview last June, Netanyahu cast doubt on the possibility of a lasting ceasefire before Hamas is destroyed. “We are committed to continuing the war after a pause, in order to complete the goal of eliminating Hamas. I’m not willing to give up on that,” he said.
On Jan. 18, the eve of the ceasefire, he said “we reserve the right to return to war if necessary with the backing of the United States.”
Why did Netanyahu back out of the ceasefire?
Agreeing to a permanent ceasefire would almost certainly plunge Netanyahu into a political crisis that could end his nearly uninterrupted 15-year rule.
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich had threatened to leave the coalition if Netanyahu progressed to Phase 2 instead of restarting the offensive. Opposition parties have promised to support him in any agreement that brings back hostages, but his coalition would still be severely weakened, making early elections likely.
By resuming the fighting, Netanyahu ensured Smotrich’s continued support. After the strikes, the Israeli leader regained another far-right partner, Itamar Ben-Gvir, whose party had bolted in January over the ceasefire but returned to the coalition Tuesday.
Beyond the political jockeying, Netanyahu’s stated goal of annihilating Hamas would have almost certainly eluded him had he stuck with the ceasefire agreement.
Hamas survived 15 months of Israeli bombardment and ground operations that killed over 48,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and destroyed much of Gaza. When the truce took hold, the militant group immediately reasserted its rule.
There’s no agreement on who should govern Gaza after the war, and even if the Western-backed Palestinian Authority were granted nominal control, Hamas would have strong influence on the ground and could rebuild its military capabilities.
For many Israelis, especially Netanyahu’s hawkish base and far-right allies, that would look like defeat. It would add to the criticism he already faces over security failures surrounding the Oct. 7 attack, in which Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251.
How did Netanyahu end the truce?
After the first phase ended, Netanyahu said Israel had agreed to what he described as a new US proposal in which Hamas would release half the remaining hostages in return for a seven-week extension of the truce and a vague promise to launch negotiations over a lasting ceasefire.
Hamas refused, pointing out that the new proposal was different from the one they had agreed to in January and again called for the immediate launch of talks on Phase 2.
It even offered to return an America-Israeli and the bodies of four other hostages to get the talks back on track, an offer dismissed as “psychological warfare” by Israel. Trump’s Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, said Hamas was claiming flexibility in public while making “entirely impractical” demands.
In an attempt to impose the new arrangement on Hamas, Israel halted the import of all food, fuel and other humanitarian aid to Gaza. It later cut off electricity, affecting a vital desalination plant. Israel also said it would not withdraw from a strategic corridor on Gaza’s border with Egypt, as stipulated in the agreement.
In recent days, Israel stepped up strikes across Gaza, targeting people it said were planting explosives or engaging in other militant activities. On Tuesday, at around 2 a.m., it launched one of the deadliest waves of strikes since the start of the war.
What has Trump said about the ceasefire?
Trump took credit for brokering the ceasefire in January, but since then has appeared to sour on it. He has warned that “all hell” will break loose if Hamas does not immediately release the hostages, while saying that’s a decision for Israel to make.
Trump has also proposed that Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians be permanently relocated so the US can take ownership of Gaza and develop it as a tourist destination. Netanyahu has embraced the plan, which has been universally condemned by Palestinians, Arab countries and human rights experts, who say it would violate international law.
The White House said it was consulted ahead of Tuesday’s strikes and supported Israel’s decision.
At least 10 US strikes target areas in Yemen
CAIRO: At least 10 US strikes targeted areas in Yemen, including Sanaa, the capital, and Hodeidah, Yemen’s Houthi media reported early on Wednesday.
The US launched a wave of strikes in areas of Yemen controlled by the Iran-aligned Houthis, who said last week they were resuming attacks on Red Sea shipping to support Palestinians in Gaza.
West Bank livestock theft symbol of tensions and settler ‘impunity’
- Throughout the Gaza war, violence in the West Bank — a separate Palestinian territory — has soared, as have calls to annex it, most notably from Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich
JERICHO, Palestinian Territories: A community of Palestinian Bedouins has decried a major theft of their livestock in the occupied West Bank, where the UN says violence from Israeli settlers is taking place in a climate of impunity.
On March 7, dozens of Israeli settlers, some of them armed, attacked Palestinian residents in Ras Ein al Auja while under the protection of Israeli forces, according to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Resident Haitham Suleiman Zayed described how around 40 vehicles arrived in the pastoral area in the Jordan Valley, accompanied by “army forces and armored Israeli vehicles.” More than 1,500 livestock were stolen, he said.
“We tried to confront them by throwing stones at them to make them move away from this enclosure, but we could not do that,” Zayed, 25, told AFP, adding that Israeli forces had intervened to protect the thieves, whom he referred to as settlers.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military referred to a police statement issued the day after the incident.
The statement said police had intervened after receiving a report regarding the theft of 50 sheep from Zohar’s farm — a settler outpost run by Zohar Sabah, an Israeli targeted in November by United States sanctions against settlers involved in acts of violence.
The sanctions introduced by the administration of former president Joe Biden were canceled by President Donald Trump on his return to power.
“Police and (Israeli) forces began searching for the flock and arrived at a Bedouin encampment near the Palestinian village of Auja, where they located the (settler’s) stolen flock,” the Israeli police statement said.
“The Palestinian suspect was arrested and taken for interrogation, where he admitted to the act,” it added.
OCHA said that according to eyewitnesses, “settlers physically assaulted and injured a Palestinian man, stole approximately 1,400 livestock, killed 12 goats, and damaged at least three houses and several solar panels.”
The Palestinian man injured during the confrontation was “restrained by Israeli police while settlers beat him,” the UN office added.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.
Excluding annexed east Jerusalem, the territory is home to nearly three million Palestinians and around 490,000 Israelis who live in settlements considered illegal under international law.
“The transfer by Israel of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies amounts to a war crime,” UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Israel must immediately and completely cease all settlement activities and evacuate all settlers, stop the forcible transfer of the Palestinian population, and prevent and punish attacks by its security forces and settlers,” he added.
His comments came as his office released a new report on the situation in the West Bank between October 2023 and last November.
“The line between settler and state violence (has) blurred to a vanishing point, further enabling an increase in violence and impunity,” the report said.
OCHA said that Israeli settlers in February bulldozed an area of Ras Ein al Auja to build a road connecting two settlement outposts.
“From Masafer Yatta in the south to the northern Jordan Valley in the north, there is not a single square meter safe from settler attacks,” said Zayed.
“The main goal is to displace people,” he added.
Throughout the Gaza war, violence in the West Bank — a separate Palestinian territory — has soared, as have calls to annex it, most notably from Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
Since early last year, the territory has seen a string of attacks by Palestinians on Israeli targets, as well as violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian communities.
Since the start of the war in October 2023, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 911 Palestinians, including many militants, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Palestinian attacks and clashes during military raids have killed at least 32 Israelis over the same period, according to official figures.
