Israeli forces kill 3 people in south Lebanon as residents try to return, Lebanese ministry says
Israeli forces killed three people and wounded more than 30 more trying to return to their homes in southern Lebanon, where Israeli troops remained on the ground after a deadline for their withdrawal passed on Sunday, Lebanon’s health ministry said.
The ceasefire 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, within a 60-day period which ended on Sunday morning.
Israel has said that Lebanon’s military has not fulfilled its role in the agreement, with the US-backed military maintaining that it is unable to continue its deployment in the area as stipulated in the ceasefire until Israeli troops withdraw.
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Hamas official vows to oppose Trump’s idea of relocating Gazans
A senior Hamas official told AFP on Sunday that the Palestinian militant group would oppose US President Donald Trump’s idea to relocate Gazans to Egypt and Jordan.
“As they have foiled every plan for displacement and alternative homelands over the decades, our people will also foil such projects,” said Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, referring to Trump’s comments.
Most Palestinians living in Gaza are either themselves refugees or the descendants of refugees driven from their homes in the wars following Israel’s founding more than 75 years ago. Around 2.3 million Palestinian refugees are currently living in Jordan, according to the United Nations.
Palestinian group Islamic Jihad says Trump idea of relocating Gazans encourages ‘war crimes’
Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad on Sunday condemned US President Donald Trump’s idea to relocate Gazans to Egypt and Jordan, calling it an encouragement of “war crimes”.
Describing Trump’s idea as “deplorable,” the group, which fought a deadly war with Israel in Gaza alongside Hamas until a January 19 ceasefire, stated: “This proposal falls within the framework of encouraging war crimes and crimes against humanity by forcing our people to leave their land.”
US President Donald Trump told reporters Saturday that he was considering a plan to “just clean out” Gaza by calling on Jordan and Egypt to take an unspecified number of people living in the devastated enclave. The mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel’s founding more than 75 years ago has driven decades of conflict.
Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has previously called for Israel to occupy Gaza and “thin out” the population by half through “voluntary” emigration, welcomed the idea.
“I will, with God’s help, work with the prime minister and the cabinet to ensure there is an operational plan to implement this as soon as possible,” he said.
Israel says Hamas committed two violations of Gaza ceasefire deal
Israel said on Sunday that Hamas had violated a ceasefire agreement that came into effect one week ago and has so far resulted in the release of seven hostages and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
“During the execution of the second phase of the swap yesterday, Hamas committed two violations” a statement from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s office said.
“Arbel Yehoud, a civilian hostage who was scheduled for release on Saturday, has not been freed, and the detailed list of all hostages’ statuses has not been provided.”
Hamas yesterday released four young women soldiers held captive in Gaza since the October 7 attacks in exchange for 200 Palestinian prisoners, 70 of whom were immediately deported to Egypt upon release.
Israeli fire kills 1 and wounds 7 as Palestinians remain barred from returning to Gaza’s north
A Palestinian man was killed and seven people were wounded by Israeli fire overnight, local health officials said Sunday, as crowds gathered in hopes of returning to the northern Gaza Strip under a fragile week-old ceasefire aimed at winding down the war.
Under the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, Israel on Saturday was to begin allowing Palestinians to return to their homes in northern Gaza on foot through the so-called Netzarim corridor that cuts through the territory. Israel put the move on hold until Hamas freed a hostage who Israel said was supposed to have been released that day.
The man was shot and two others were wounded late Saturday, according to the Awda Hospital, which received the casualties. Another five Palestinians, including a child, were wounded early Sunday in a separate shooting, the hospital said.
The “Netzarim corridor”, named after an Israeli settlement dismantled in 2005, refers to a militarised zone cutting the Palestinian territory in half that Israel’s military has been building since the first days of the war.
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