Israel and Hamas would begin indirect negotiations this week on a second stage of the Gaza ceasefire deal, said officials on Tuesday, as the Palestinian militant group said it would hand over more hostages, including the bodies of two children.
Residents of south Lebanon returned to devastated villages on Tuesday, searching for the bodies of relatives killed in last year’s war between Israel and Hezbollah, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of the territory.
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was expected to travel to Riyadh on Thursday, said two Egyptian security sources, where he is due to discuss an Arab plan for Gaza that may include up to $20-billion from the region for reconstruction.
Israel, Hamas to begin negotiations on next phase of Gaza ceasefire
Israel and Hamas would begin indirect negotiations on a second stage of the Gaza ceasefire deal, said officials on Tuesday, as the Palestinian militant group said it would hand over more hostages, including the bodies of two children, this week.
Khalil al-Hayya, leader of Hamas in Gaza, said the bodies of four hostages, including those of the Bibas family, would be returned on Thursday. Six living hostages would follow on Saturday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirmed a deal was reached in Cairo to secure the release of six living hostages on Saturday, four deceased hostages on Thursday and four more next week, but stopped short of naming any of them.
An Israeli official said deceased hostages would undergo identification in Israel before they are named.
Negotiations for the second phase of the deal were supposed to start on 4 February but Qatar, which together with Egypt and the US is mediating between the sides, said the talks had not officially started yet.
“It will happen this week,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told a press conference in Jerusalem.
Israel had given mixed signals in the past few weeks about its engagement in the talks over the next stage of the three-phased ceasefire, which came into effect on 19 January with the stated goal of permanently ending the Gaza war.
The Bibas family, including Kfir Bibas, who was less than a year old when he was abducted and his brother Ariel, four years old at the time, have been among the highest profile Israeli hostages seized in the 7 October 2023 attack by Hamas.
Their father Yarden Bibas was released this month but their mother Shiri was not. Hamas said in late 2023 that Shiri and the children had been killed by Israeli bombardments.
Israel has not confirmed their deaths and has only said it has grave concern for their lives. After Hamas’ announcement, it appealed to respect the hostage families’ privacy.
The initial phase of the ceasefire deal, which includes a 42-day truce and the return of 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, has remained on track despite a series of setbacks and accusations of violations that had threatened to derail it.
Negotiations over the second stage, aimed at securing the release of the remaining 64 hostages, are expected to be tough because they include issues like the administration of post-war Gaza, where there are large gaps between the sides.
“We will not accept the continued presence of Hamas or any other terrorist organisation in Gaza,” said Saar.
He added that if the negotiations were constructive, Israel would remain engaged and may prolong the ceasefire.
“If we will see there is a constructive dialogue with a possible horizon of getting to an agreement [then] we will make this time-frame work longer,” said Saar.
So far, 19 Israeli hostages have been returned in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
The hostages were taken in the Hamas-led cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, which killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s retaliatory assault on Gaza has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health officials, laid waste to much of the enclave, and displaced hundreds of thousands.
An Israeli official said Israel would start allowing the entry of mobile homes for those Gazans forced to shelter from the winter weather among the ruins left by the 15 months of Israeli bombardments.
Hamas has accused Israel of delaying the delivery and had threatened to postpone the release of hostages until the issue was resolved.
The fragile ceasefire deal has also been overshadowed by US President Donald Trump’s call for Palestinians to be moved out and for Gaza to be taken over as a waterfront development under US control.
The plan has been rejected by Palestinian groups, Arab states and Washington’s Western allies who say it is tantamount to ethnic cleansing. Israeli leaders have argued that Gazans who want to leave the devastated enclave should be allowed to do so.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Monday he would set up a new unit in his ministry dedicated to facilitating the exit of Gaza residents who want to move to a third country, after reviewing an initial plan for it.
Lebanese search for dead in devastated villages as Israel withdraws
Residents of south Lebanon returned to devastated villages on Tuesday, searching for the bodies of relatives killed in last year’s war between Israel and Hezbollah, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of the territory.
Israeli Foreign Minister Saar said Israel would complete its withdrawal from the south on Tuesday to meet a deadline set under a US-backed ceasefire, but that it would temporarily remain in five points needed for its security.
Hezbollah, which was badly pummelled in the war, said Israel was still occupying Lebanese territory and put the onus on the Lebanese state to get Israeli forces out.
In the frontline village of Kfar Kila, barely a building was left standing. “I reached my neighbourhood and I couldn’t tell where my house had been,” said one resident, Noha Hammoud.
“The entire neighbourhood is destroyed.”
Rescue workers had pulled several bodies from the rubble, and had even found two people still alive, she said. Local sources said those found dead and alive were fighters from Hezbollah, thousands of whom were killed in the war.
Senior Lebanese politician Ali Hassan Khalil, who hails from the south, said hundreds of residents had gone to inspect more than a half dozen villages that became accessible, adding that the Lebanese army was still working to clear roads.
However, Israel’s continued occupation left “an open wound”, he added.
The conflict, which began when Hezbollah opened fire on 8 October in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas, displaced tens of thousands of Israelis from northern Israel and more than a million people in Lebanon.
At the Israeli Kibbutz Misgav Am, next to the border with Lebanon, some residents visited and planted trees on Tuesday.
“Although we had to evacuate, our hearts stayed here,” said one of the kibbutz members, Daniel Malik. “We really want to come back but there is big uncertainty because we don’t know when it will be safe,” he said.
Israel sent forces into the south during a major offensive against Hezbollah, the culmination of a year of hostilities ignited by the Gaza war. It inflicted major blows on the Iran-backed group, killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah and other top commanders and leaving it dramatically weakened.
In Yaroun, another frontline village in Lebanon, a woman held a bouquet of spring flowers in one hand and Hezbollah’s yellow flag in another as she surveyed the destruction.
Rescue workers pulled at least one body from the rubble.
“Our feeling is a mix of joy and sadness because there are still martyrs we have yet to find,” said returning resident Suhaila Daher. “All the destruction can be replaced, thank God, but the martyrs will not return.”
The terms of a US-brokered ceasefire required Israel to withdraw and barred Hezbollah from having any military presence in southern Lebanon, where the group enjoys political backing among Shi’ite Muslims. The deal also requires the US-backed Lebanese army to deploy into the border region.
Israel had been due to withdraw by 26 January 26, but this was extended to 18 February after it accused Lebanon of failing to enforce the terms. Lebanon at the time accused Israel of delaying its withdrawal.
Saar said Israel was pulling its troops out despite what he called violations by Hezbollah.
“The most basic violation is the presence of Hezbollah activists south of the Litani River,” he said. “Once Lebanon implements its side of the deal, there will be no need to hold these points.”
Hezbollah legislator Hassan Fadlallah, speaking to Reuters in Yaroun, said: “The Israeli enemy is still occupying Lebanese land and this Lebanese land must be liberated and now the primary responsibility falls on the Lebanese state.”
The Lebanese presidency, in a statement, said that Lebanon would consider any remaining Israeli presence on Lebanese land an occupation. Lebanon has the right to use any means to ensure an Israeli withdrawal, it added.
Gaza Arab plan may involve up to $20bn in regional contributions
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was expected to travel to Riyadh on Thursday, said two Egyptian security sources, where he is due to discuss an Arab plan for Gaza that may include up to $20-billion from the region for reconstruction.
Arab states are expected to discuss a post-war plan for Gaza to counter Trump’s proposal to redevelop the strip under US control and displace Palestinians, a prospect that has angered regional leaders.
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are set to review and discuss the Arab plan in Riyadh before it is presented at a scheduled Arab summit which takes place in Cairo on 4 March, said four sources with knowledge of the matter.
On Friday, a gathering of Arab state leaders, including Jordan, Egypt, the UAE and Qatar, was expected in Saudi Arabia, which is spearheading Arab efforts on Trump’s plan, although some sources said the date had not been confirmed yet.
Arab states were dismayed by Trump’s plan to “clean out” Palestinians from Gaza and resettle most of them in Jordan and Egypt, to create a Middle East Riviera. The idea was immediately rejected by Cairo and Amman and seen in most of the region as deeply destabilising.
The Arab proposal, mostly based on an Egyptian plan, involves forming a national Palestinian committee to govern Gaza without Hamas involvement and international participation in reconstruction without displacing Palestinians abroad.
A $20-billion contribution from Arab and Gulf states towards the fund, cited by two sources as being a likely figure, may be a good incentive for Trump to accept the plan, said Emirati academic Abdulkhaleq Abdullah.
“Trump is transactional so $20-billion would resonate well with him,” said Abdullah.
“This would benefit a lot of US and Israeli companies,” he added.
The Palestinian Authority’s Cabinet said in a statement on Tuesday that the first phase of the plan under discussion would cost approximately $20-billion over three years.
The plan sees reconstruction taking place over a three-year timeframe, said sources.
More than $50bn needed to rebuild Gaza - World Bank joint assessment
More than $50-billion will be required to rebuild Gaza and the West Bank after the 15-month Israel-Hamas conflict, according to an assessment released by the United Nations, the European Union and the World Bank on Tuesday.
The Interim Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment said that $53.2-billion was needed for recovery and reconstruction over the next 10 years, with $20-billion needed in the first three.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians flee West Bank refugee camps
Tens of thousands of Palestinians living in refugee camps in the occupied West Bank have left their homes as a weeks-long Israeli offensive has demolished houses and torn up vital infrastructure in the heavily built-up townships, said Palestinian authorities.
Israeli forces began their operation in the refugee camp in the northern West Bank city of Jenin on 21 January, deploying hundreds of troops and bulldozers that demolished houses and dug up roads, driving almost all of the camp’s residents out.
“We don’t know what’s going on in the camp but there is continuous demolition and roads being dug up,” said Mohammed al-Sabbagh, head of the Jenin camp services committee.
The operation, which Israel says is aimed at thwarting Iranian-backed militant groups in the West Bank, has since been extended to other camps, notably the Tulkarm refugee camp and the nearby Nur Shams camp, both of which have also been devastated.
The camps, built for descendants of Palestinian refugees who fled or were driven from their homes in the 1948 war around the creation of the state of Israel, have long been major centres for armed militant groups.
They have been raided repeatedly by the Israeli military but the current operation, which began as a ceasefire was agreed in Gaza, has been on an unusually large scale.
According to figures from the Palestinian Authority, around 17,000 people have now left the Jenin refugee camp, leaving the site almost completely deserted, while in Nur Shams 6,000 people, or about two-thirds of the total, have left, with another 10,000 leaving from Tulkarm camp.
“The ones who are left are trapped,” said Nihad al-Shawish, head of the Nur Shams camp services committee. “The Civil Defence, the Red Crescent and the Palestinian security forces brought them some food yesterday but the army is still bulldozing and destroying the camp.”
The Israeli raids have demolished dozens of houses and torn up large stretches of roadway as well as cutting off water and power, but the military has denied forcing residents to leave their homes.
“People obviously have the possibility to move or go where they want, if they will. But if they don’t, they’re allowed to stay,” Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told reporters.
The operation began as Israel moved to banish the main UN Palestinian relief organization Unrwa from its headquarters in East Jerusalem and cut it off from any contact with Israeli officials.
The ban, which took effect at the end of January, has hit Unrwa’s work in the West Bank and Gaza, where it provides aid for millions of Palestinians in the refugee camps.
Israel has accused Unrwa of cooperating with Hamas and said some Unrwa workers even took part in the Hamas-led attack on communities in southern Israel on 7 October 2023 that set off the 15-month war in Gaza. DM
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