Israeli army blows up buildings in West Bank refugee camp; Hezbollah's slain chief to be buried on 23 February

The head of Lebanon’s armed group Hezbollah said on Sunday that his predecessor, Hassan Nasrallah, would be laid to rest on 23 February, nearly five months after he was killed in an Israeli air attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepared to leave Israel on Sunday for a meeting with US President Donald Trump, looking to strengthen ties with Washington after tensions with the previous White House administration over the war in Gaza.

Israeli military blows up buildings in West Bank refugee camp

The Israeli military blew up buildings in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Sunday in an operation that the Palestinian state news agency said levelled around 20 buildings.

Footage capturing the demolitions showed a series of simultaneous explosions in the densely populated camp.

Thick clouds of smoke rose above the Palestinian city where Israeli forces have been conducting a major military operation for nearly two weeks that the Israeli military says is targeting Palestinian militant fighters and the seizure of weapons stockpiles.

The Israeli military said 23 structures had been “dismantled” in the northern West Bank after explosives laboratories, weapons and observation posts were uncovered by its forces.

In a previous statement on Sunday it shared images of firearms, ammunition and what appeared to be gas canisters. It did not say where exactly those images were taken.

Jenin Government Hospital Director Wisam Baker told the Palestinian state news agency that part of the hospital was damaged in the explosions but that there had been no casualties.

Jenin is home to a crowded refugee camp of descendants of Palestinians who were driven out, or fled their homes, in the 1948 war when the state of Israel was established. The refugee camp there has been a centre of militant activity for decades and the target of repeated raids by Israeli security forces.

Israeli forces, backed by helicopters and armoured bulldozers, began the assault on the city on 21 January, two days after a ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and the militant group Hamas took effect.

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees has said that almost all of the Jenin camp’s 20,000 residents have been displaced over the past two months.

Hamas on Sunday called for an “escalation in the resistance” against Israel following the demolition of buildings in Jenin.

The Palestinian Authority, a Hamas rival, exercises limited governance over the West Bank where around three million Palestinians live and over which Israel maintains overall military control.

Israeli forces have engaged in gun battles with local militants since the operation began. Defense Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday said security forces would stay until the operation was complete, without saying when that would be.

At least 25 Palestinians have been killed since the Israeli military operation began in Jenin, including nine members of armed groups, a 73-year-old man and a two-year-old girl, according to Palestinian officials. The Israeli military says it has killed at least 35 militants and detained more than 100 wanted individuals.

The Palestinian state news agency also said that a 27-year-old man had been killed on Sunday by Israeli forces raiding a refugee camp near Hebron.

Hezbollah chief says slain predecessor to be buried on 23 February

The head of Lebanon’s armed group Hezbollah said on Sunday that his predecessor, Hassan Nasrallah, would be laid to rest on 23 February, nearly five months after he was killed in an Israeli air attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Nasrallah, who had served as Hezbollah’s secretary general for more than 30 years, was killed on 27 September as Israel ramped up its air attacks on Hezbollah targets and just days before Israeli troops began ground incursions into southern Lebanon.

His successor Naim Qassem said in a televised address on Sunday that Nasrallah was killed “at a time when circumstances were difficult”, forcing the group to conduct a temporary burial for him according to religious tradition.

Qassem said the group had now decided to hold “a grand funeral procession with a large public presence” for both Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine, another top Hezbollah official killed in an Israeli strike nearly a week after Nasrallah.

Qassem confirmed on Sunday for the first time that Safieddine had been elected as Nasrallah’s successor but was killed before the announcement was made. He said Safieddine would also be buried with the title of secretary general.

The killings of both Nasrallah and Safieddine — as well as many of the group’s top military commanders — threw Hezbollah into disarray. The group announced on 29 October that Qassem, the group’s deputy leader, had been elected as its head.

A ceasefire agreed in late November ended hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel and set a 60-day deadline for Israeli troops to withdraw from southern Lebanon, Hezbollah to remove its fighters and arms from the area and Lebanese troops to deploy there.

That deadline was extended last month until 18 February. Israel has continued to carry out some airstrikes on parts of Lebanon, accusing Hezbollah of violating the terms of the ceasefire.

Hezbollah says Israel is responsible for the breaches and says the Lebanese state and the deal’s foreign sponsors — the US and France — should prevent Israel’s violations. But it has not threatened to resume fighting.

Netanyahu leaves for Washington to deepen ties with Trump

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepared to leave Israel on Sunday for a meeting with US President Donald Trump, looking to strengthen ties with Washington after tensions with the previous White House administration over the war in Gaza.

Netanyahu, the first foreign leader to visit Trump since his inauguration last month, leaves with the ceasefire in Gaza still holding and negotiations aimed at a second phase expected to begin this week.

“The decisions we made in the war have already changed the face of the Middle East,” he said at the airport before his departure.

“Our decisions and the courage of our soldiers have redrawn the map. But I believe that working closely with President Trump, we can redraw it even further and for the better.”

Netanyahu, who faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court over allegations of war crimes in Gaza, had strained relations with Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden and has not visited the White House since returning to office at the end of 2022.

Four Palestinians wounded in Israeli strike on car in Gaza

At least four Palestinians were wounded in an Israeli strike on Sunday on a vehicle on the coastal road west of the Nuseirat camp in the central part of the Gaza Strip, medics told Reuters.

Medics first announced that a young boy had been killed in the strike, but later said they had managed to resuscitate him.

The Israeli military said an Israeli aircraft fired on what the military described as a suspicious vehicle moving towards northern Gaza outside the inspection route laid down by the ceasefire agreement.

“The IDF [Israeli military] is prepared for any scenario and will continue to take any necessary actions to thwart any immediate threat to IDF soldiers,” it said, giving no details on the impact of the strike or any casualties.

Several Palestinians have been reported killed by Israeli fire since a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas took effect on 19 January. Israel said its forces had opened fire in incidents where “suspicious” figures, sometimes armed, posed a risk to Israeli forces deployed at some areas of Gaza as stipulated by the phased deal.

Hamas has described these incidents as violations of the truce.

During the first phase of the ceasefire, 33 children, women and older male hostages as well as sick and injured, were due to be released. Of these, 18 have been freed so far. More than 60 male hostages of military age will remain captive until a second phase is negotiated.

Later on Sunday, Hamas accused Israel of stalling over the implementation of the humanitarian part of the deal, saying Israel had yet to permit the entry of the needed medical, relief, fuel, and reconstruction supplies as per the agreement.

“We urge the mediators and guarantors of the ceasefire agreement to compel the occupation [Israel] to allow the entry of relief materials according to the agreement. Most urgently needed are tents, fuel, food materials, and heavy machinery,” said the group’s spokesperson, Hazem Qassem.

Qatar PM calls on Hamas, Israel to begin talks on phase two of ceasefire

Qatar’s prime minister on Sunday called on Israel and Hamas to immediately begin negotiating phase two of the Gaza ceasefire, adding that there was no clear plan for when talks would begin.

“We demand [Hamas and Israel] to engage immediately as stipulated in the agreement,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said at a press conference held jointly with Turkey’s foreign minister in the Qatari capital, Doha, on Sunday.

According to the ceasefire agreement, negotiations on implementing the second phase of the deal should begin before the 16th day of phase one of the ceasefire, which is Monday.

Israel and Hamas last month reached a complex three-phase accord that has halted the fighting in Gaza. Hamas has so far released 18 hostages in exchange for Israel releasing hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

There are more than 70 hostages still held in Gaza.

The second stage of the accord is expected to include Hamas releasing all remaining hostages held in Gaza, a permanent end to hostilities and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the enclave.

“There is nothing yet clear about where the delegations will come and when it’s going to take place,” said Sheikh Mohammed.

Mediators had engaged with Hamas and Israel over the phone and Qatar had set an agenda for the next phase of negotiations, he said.

“We hope that we start to see some movement in the next few days. It’s critical that we get things rolling from now in order to get to an agreement before day 42.”

Netanyahu’s office said he would begin negotiations on phase two of the agreement on Monday in Washington when he is set to meet Trump’s Middle East Envoy, Steve Witkoff. DM

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