Israeli President Isaac Herzog said on Sunday that US President Donald Trump was set to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and possibly Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, although he gave no dates for the talks.
An Israel delegation arrived in Qatar on Sunday for more Gaza truce talks, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson, as its military withdrew from an important crossing point in the enclave, as agreed under the truce with Hamas.
Two Palestinian women, one of them pregnant, were killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, said the Palestinian health ministry, as Israel stepped up raids on militants in the area.
Trump to meet with leaders of Saudi Arabia and Egypt
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said on Sunday that US President Donald Trump was set to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and possibly Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, although he gave no dates for the talks.
The comments, delivered in an interview with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo, came in response to a question about Trump’s recently unveiled proposal to take over and redevelop the Gaza Strip.
Herzog did not say when or where the meetings would take place, nor did he discuss their potential content. He also noted that Trump was due to meet with Jordan’s King Abdullah in the coming days, which Jordan’s state news agency has already reported.
“President Trump is due to meet with major, major Arab leaders, first and foremost the king of Jordan and the president of Egypt and I think also the crown prince of Saudi Arabia as well,” said Herzog.
“These are partners that must be listened to, they must be discussed with. We have to honour their feelings as well and see how we build a plan that is sustainable for the future,” said Herzog.
Saudi Arabia has flatly rejected Trump’s Gaza plan, as have many world leaders. Jordan’s King Abdullah plans to tell Trump during their planned 11 February meeting in Washington that the proposal is a recipe for radicalism that will spread chaos through the Middle East and jeopardise the kingdom’s peace with Israel, Reuters reported earlier this week.
Israeli delegation in Qatar for more Gaza ceasefire talks
An Israel delegation arrived in Qatar on Sunday for more Gaza truce talks, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson, as its military withdrew from an important crossing point in the enclave, as agreed under the truce with Hamas.
Indirect negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas on the next stage of the ceasefire are set to start this week following Netanyahu’s visit to the US last week.
However, a source in Netanyahu’s office said the Israeli delegation at this point would only discuss technical issues, rather than the bigger matters which are supposed to be hammered out, including the administration of post-war Gaza.
The first stage of the ceasefire, which began on 19 January, is meant to last six weeks and includes the release by Hamas of 33 Israeli hostages in return for Israel freeing almost 2,000 Palestinian detainees and prisoners from its jails.
Washington, Qatar and Egypt mediated the ceasefire, which has largely held. In keeping with the deal, on Sunday the Israeli military completed its withdrawal from its remaining positions in the Netzarim Corridor, which bisects Gaza.
Crowds of people were seen traversing the corridor as Hamas announced the Israeli withdrawal, while a long line of cars waited to pass through. An Israeli security source confirmed the military was leaving its positions there.
The Hamas-run police force deployed to the area to manage the flow of Palestinians crossing through and Reuters footage showed what appeared to be Israeli military vehicles moving away from the coast and towards the Israeli border.
Hamas military and police forces have increased their public presence since January’s ceasefire, in what analysts say is an intentional message that the group has not been defeated.
Former US soldiers employed as private contractors have been deployed to inspect vehicles passing through the corridor in recent weeks following the ceasefire agreement.
Israel had occupied the roughly 6km-long corridor south of Gaza City that stretches from the Israeli border to the Mediterranean Sea.
The corridor cut off Gaza’s northern communities, including its largest metropolitan area, from the south.
Thousands of Palestinians have streamed through the corridor in recent weeks, returning to their homes in the north from southern Gaza where they had sought shelter from the war.
Much of northern Gaza has become a wasteland following Israel’s devastating campaign. After finding their homes destroyed, some Gazans have gone back to the south, while others have set up tents where their homes once stood.
Israel vowed to destroy Hamas for its October 2023 attack in which 1,200 people were killed, most of them civilians, and 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
More than 48,000 people have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory assault, according to Palestinian health authorities, most of them civilians.
Gazan medics said that on Sunday four Palestinians, including an elderly woman, had been killed by Israeli gunfire in two separate incidents near Khan Yunis and in Gaza City.
The Israeli military said soldiers had fired warning shots at “several suspects” and that “several hits were identified”, when asked about the Gaza City incident where medics said three Palestinians had been killed and five wounded. The military was not aware of the incident where the woman was allegedly killed.
Two Palestinian women killed in Israeli West Bank raid
Two Palestinian women, one of them pregnant, were killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, said the Palestinian health ministry, as Israel stepped up raids on militants in the area.
The ministry said Israeli forces in Nur Shams in the northern West Bank shot 23-year-old Sundos Jamal Mohammed Shalabi, who was eight months pregnant and whose unborn child did not survive, and critically wounded her husband.
The Israeli military said the incident was being probed by its military police criminal investigation unit.
Details of the deaths were not immediately clear. The Palestinian state news agency cited eyewitnesses as saying that Shalabi and her husband were shot as they were trying to leave their home.
Another woman, aged 21, was shot dead in a separate incident, said the Palestinian health ministry.
The Israeli military said its forces were scanning a house for a militant and that they called on inhabitants to exit the building. The woman did not come out and was fatally wounded when they used force to breach the door, the military said.
Earlier on Sunday, the military announced it was expanding a counter-terrorism operation in the north of the West Bank to Nur Shams, a historic refugee camp close to the Palestinian town of Tulkarm.
Israel’s military, police and intelligence services started the counter-terrorism operation in Jenin on 21 January, described by officials as a “large-scale and significant military operation”.
The operation expanded to Tulkarm, Al Faraa and Tamun, with the military saying it was targeting militants.
Israel, viewing the West Bank as part of a multifront war against Iranian-backed groups established around its borders, launched the operation after reaching a ceasefire in its war in Gaza against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Thousands of Palestinians have fled West Bank homes in the wake of the military campaign and widespread destruction.
Palestinians have said the Israeli campaign is one of the most destructive in recent memory. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Health Ministry. The Israeli military has said it has killed militants.
Thai nationals held captive by Hamas in Gaza return home
When Surasak Rumnao (31) left his home in Thailand’s rural Udon Thani province three years ago to go across the world to the southern Israeli town of Yesha for agriculture work, his family never imagined they would lose touch with him for over a year when he was kidnapped by Hamas militants in October 2023.
He and four others were reunited with their families this weekend after their release from captivity in Gaza.
According to Israeli authorities, Hamas-led Palestinian militants abducted more than 250 people, including Israelis and foreign nationals, in their October 2023 attack on Israel.
During the attack, Hamas gunmen killed more than 40 Thais and kidnapped 31 Thai labourers, some of whom died in captivity, according to the Thai government. Later that year, the first group of Thai hostages was returned.
Surasak’s mother, Khammee Rumnao, was relieved that her son was not mistreated and has returned to his home, about 620km northeast of the capital, Bangkok.
“He mainly got to eat bread, he was looked after well and was fed all three meals [every day]. He got to shower, he was looked after well,” said Khammee.
Her son does not plan to go back and wants to use the knowledge he gained in his agricultural work in Israel at their home, she said.
Earlier on Sunday, the other returnees, dressed in winter jackets, were met with tears of joy from their families who were waiting for their arrival at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport.
“We are all deeply touched to come back to our birthplace ... to be standing here,” said Pongsak Thaenna, one of the returnees.”I don’t know what else to say, we are all truly thankful.”
Before the conflict, approximately 30,000 Thai labourers worked in Israel’s agriculture sector, making them one of the largest migrant worker groups in the country. Nearly 9,000 Thais were repatriated following the 7 October attacks.
Thailand’s foreign ministry said a Thai national is still believed to be held captive by Hamas.
Saudi Arabia rejects Netanyahu’s remarks on displacing Palestinians
Saudi Arabia affirmed its categorical rejection of remarks by Netanyahu about displacing Palestinians from their land, said the foreign ministry in a statement on Sunday.
Israeli officials have suggested the establishment of a Palestinian state on Saudi territory. Netanyahu appeared to be joking on Thursday when he responded to an interviewer on pro-Netanyahu Channel 14 who mistakenly said “Saudi state” instead of “Palestinian state”, before correcting himself.
While the Saudi statement mentioned Netanyahu’s name, it did not directly refer to the comments about establishing a Palestinian state in Saudi territory.
Egypt and Jordan also condemned the Israeli suggestions, with Cairo deeming the idea as a “direct infringement of Saudi sovereignty”.
Trump administration backs big arms sales to Israel
Trump’s administration announced on Friday that it had approved military sales to Israel worth some $7.4-billion, despite a Democratic legislator’s request that the sale be paused until he received more information.
The Department of Defense announced that the State Department had approved a package for Israel worth an estimated $6.75-billion that included munitions, guidance kits and fuses, with Boeing among the principal contractors.
It also detailed a deal estimated at $660-million to sell Hellfire missiles to Israel in which Lockheed Martin would be the principal contractor.
Representative Gregory Meeks, ranking Democrat on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, denounced what he termed a decision to break with a long-standing precedent for congressional review of major weapons sales.
He said he had been discussing his concerns about the sale with the administration, which had failed to provide significant documentation or justification.
“I continue to support Israel’s critical military needs as it faces a range of regional threats and was engaged in close consultation with the administration on a range of questions and concerns,” said Meeks in a statement.
He said the decision showed a lack of respect for Congress as a co-equal branch of government. “In the United States we do not have kings — we are a democracy rooted in the Constitution, governed by laws,” said Meeks.
Former President Joe Biden’s administration had notified Congress of a proposed $8-billion arms sale to Israel in January, said two US officials at the time. That aligned with a long-standing practice of giving the chairs and ranking members of the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations Committees the opportunity to review a sale and ask for more information before making a formal notification to Congress.
Hamas frees three hostages, Israel begins releasing Palestinians
Hamas on Saturday handed over three Israeli hostages whose gaunt appearance shocked Israelis, and Israel began freeing dozens of Palestinians in the latest stage of a ceasefire aimed at ending the war in Gaza.
Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi, who were taken hostage from Kibbutz Be’eri during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, and Or Levy, who was abducted that day from the Nova music festival, were led onto a Hamas podium by gunmen.
The three men appeared thin, weak and pale, in worse condition than the 18 other hostages already freed under the truce agreed in January after 15 months of war.
“He looked like a skeleton, it was awful to see,” Ohad Ben Ami’s mother-in-law, Michal Cohen, told Channel 13 News as she watched the Hamas-directed handover ceremony, which included the hostages answering questions posed by a masked man as militants armed with automatic rifles stood on each side.
In another show of force by Hamas, which has paraded fighters during previous releases, dozens of its militants deployed in central Gaza as it handed hostages over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The hostages were then driven in ICRC cars to Israeli forces and into Israel, where they had tearful reunions with family members, and flown to hospitals. “We missed you so much,” said the mother of Or Levy, Geula, as she hugged her son.
Netanyahu said the sight of the frail hostages was shocking and would be addressed.
In exchange for the hostages’ release, Israel was freeing 183 Palestinian prisoners, some convicted of involvement in attacks that killed dozens of people, as well as 111 detained in Gaza during the war.
Cheering crowds greeted the buses as they arrived in Gaza, embracing the freed detainees, some of them weeping with joy and tearing prison-issued bracelets off their wrists.
Among those freed in Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, was Eyad Abu Shkaidem, sentenced to 18 life terms in Israel for masterminding suicide attacks in revenge for Israel’s 2004 assassinations of Hamas leaders.
“Today, I am reborn,” Shkaidem told reporters as the crowd cheered.
The Palestinian Red Crescent medical service said six of the 42 released in the West Bank were in poor health and were taken to hospital. Some prisoners complained of ill-treatment. “The occupation humiliated us for over a year,” said Shkaidem.
Some hostages face a painful return. Sharabi’s two teenage daughters and his British-born wife were slain in the Hamas attack on Kibbutz Be’eri, where one in 10 residents was killed.
Israel’s Channel 12 said Sharabi had not been told about their deaths and asked where they were when he arrived.
Levy will be reunited with his three-year-old son. His wife was killed in the attack.
Dr Hagar Mizrachi from Israel’s Ichilov Hospital said the hostages exhibited severe weight loss and malnutrition.
Sixteen Israeli and five Thai hostages have been released so far and 583 Palestinian prisoners and detainees have been freed. DM
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