Middle East latest: Israeli strike kills at least 10 people in the West Bank, officials say

Palestinian health authorities said an Israeli airstrike in the northern West Bank killed at least 10 people late Wednesday, as Israeli forces have carried out a major crackdown in the occupied territory during the ceasefire in Gaza.

Israel's military said a fighter jet targeted a Palestinian militant cell based on intelligence. Hamas mourned the men killed but did not claim them as members.

The tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is aimed at ending the war in Gaza and securing the release of dozens of hostages held by the militant group, as well as hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned or detained by Israel. The truce does not apply to the West Bank.

Under the ceasefire, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have jubilantly returned to northern Gaza over the past three days. However, their homecoming has been bittersweet as nearly everyone has friends or relatives who died, and many northern neighborhoods have been transformed into an apocalyptic landscape of devastation by more than 15 months of war.

Here's the latest:

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian health authorities say an Israeli airstrike in the northern West Bank has killed at least 10 people late Wednesday.

The Israeli military said the strike by a warplane targeted a Palestinian militant cell in the area based on intelligence.

Israel’s use of a jet fighter to strike the rural village of Tamoun late Wednesday marked the latest escalation in its intensifying crackdown on Palestinian militants in the occupied territory. Residents of Tamoun said that the airstrike hit a house in a crowded neighborhood. The Palestinian Health Ministry cautioned that the death toll was likely to rise.

Before the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Israeli airstrikes in the West Bank were relatively rare. Israel says its increased military raids are aimed at combating rising Palestinian militant attacks against Israelis, including shootings.

Palestinians say the extensive military operations — such as the ongoing raid in the Jenin refugee camp that has so far killed at least 18 Palestinians — only deepen resentment for Israel and prolong the cycle of bloodshed.

In a statement, Hamas mourned the men killed in Tamoun but did not claim them as members. It called on Palestinians across Israel and the occupied West Bank to mobilize against Israel in hopes of making it “pay the price for its crimes.”

RAMALLAH, West Bank — A list of more than 100 Palestinian prisoners that Israel is set to release on Thursday in exchange for three hostages includes Zakaria Zubeidi, a prominent former militant leader and theater director whose dramatic jailbreak in 2021 thrilled Palestinians and stunned the Israeli security establishment.

Zubeidi once led the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade — an armed group affiliated with Fatah, the secular political party that controls the Palestinian Authority — which carried out deadly attacks against Israelis during a Palestinian uprising between 2000 and 2005.

After the uprising, in 2006, Zubeidi established a theater in his hometown in the northern West Bank to promote what he described as cultural resistance to Israel. Even today, the Freedom Theater in Jenin refugee camp puts on everything from Shakespeare to stand-up comedy to plays written by residents.

In 2019, after Zubeidi had already served years in prison for attacks in the early 2000s, Israel arrested him again over his alleged involvement in shooting attacks that targeted buses of Israeli settlers in the West Bank but caused no injuries.

Zubeidi has been awaiting trial in prison since. He denies the charges, insisting he focused on political activism as a member of Fatah and a prisoner advocacy group.

In 2021, he and five other prisoners tunneled out of a maximum-security prison in northern Israel, an escape that helped solidify Zubeidi’s image among Palestinians as a folk hero. All six escapees were recaptured days later.

DAMASCUS, Syria — The leader of Syria’s former rebels who toppled President Bashar Assad last month was named the country’s interim president on Wednesday as ex-insurgents also cancelled the existing constitution, saying a new charter would be drafted soon.

The appointment of Ahmad al-Sharaa, a rebel who was once aligned with al-Qaida, as the country’s president “in the transitional phase” came after a meeting of the insurgents in Damascus, the Syrian capital.

Al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, is the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an Islamist former insurgent group that led the lightning offensive that toppled Assad last month. The group was once affiliated with al-Qaida but has since denounced its former ties, and in recent years al-Sharaa has sought to cast himself as a champion of pluralism and tolerance.

His appointment as president was made by the spokesperson for the de facto government’s military operations sector, Col. Hassan Abdul Ghani, the state-run SANA news agency said.

Abdul Ghani also announced the cancelation of the country’s constitution passed in 2012 under Assad’s rule and said al-Sharaa would be authorized to form a temporary legislative Council until a new constitution is drafted.

He also announced the dissolution of the armed factions in the country, which he said would be absorbed into state institutions.

JERUSALEM — Israel's defense minister indicated Wednesday that the military plans to keep soldiers in the flashpoint city of Jenin for the foreseeable future, as Israeli forces have focused on a major crackdown in the northern West Bank during the ceasefire in Gaza.

Israel Katz pledged that the urban refugee camp in Jenin — long a bastion for Palestinian militancy — “will not return to what it was.”

The military said it has killed 18 alleged Palestinian militants during the nine-day operation in and around Jenin, during which soldiers and armored bulldozers have caused widespread damage and destroyed scores of homes.

Palestinian health officials have not released a total death toll, but say Israeli fire has killed roughly 20 Palestinians since the start of the raid, including a 2-year-old girl. Israel’s military has pledged to investigate her death.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said two Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in the occupied West Bank overnight and into Wednesday.

A 23-year-old man was shot dead in Tulkarem and a 25-year-old man was killed in a strike on Jenin. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its reports.

JERUSALEM — Michael Milshtein, an Israeli expert on Palestinian affairs and a former Israeli intelligence officer, said he is worried that the military’s current operation in the West Bank city of Jenin lacked a clear goal and risked entrenching an Israeli presence there.

Israel’s raid follows a recent — and rare — incursion into Jenin by the the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the occupied territory and is deeply unpopular among Palestinians.

“We are faced with a situation where the Palestinian Authority didn’t solve anything in Jenin,” Milshtein said Wednesday. “I’m very worried that in a short amount of time we will find ourselves as the ones responding to civil issues there as well.”

The West Bank has seen a surge in violence since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there.

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey announced Wednesday that three of its citizens were killed by Israeli airstrikes while attempting to cross illegally from Lebanon into Israel, and condemned the attack.

A Turkish Foreign Ministry statement did not say when the three were killed or why they had attempted to cross into Israel.

“We condemn in the strongest terms this unlawful attack that resulted in the death of our citizens,” the Ministry said in a statement. “Israel must immediately end its aggressive policies that disregard human life and escalate tensions in our region."

Procedures to repatriate the bodies back to Turkey were underway, the ministry said.

The Israeli military did not immediately offer comment on the killings.

Israeli forces control territory inside Lebanon along some parts of the border after fighting a war with the militant group Hezbollah, which ended in a ceasefire last year. Both sides have until Feb. 18 to pull all of their forces out of southern Lebanon.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — For a third straight day, thousands of Palestinians in southern Gaza trekked by foot, motorbike and animal-drawn carts back to their homes in the war-ravaged north after Israeli forces withdrew from the two main roads earlier this week.

The column of people stretched for miles along Gaza’s coastal road Wednesday. A group of young men pushed a motorcycle cart with a sputtering engine, weighed down by potato sacks that held whatever personal belongings they were able to bring.

Others dragged suitcases through the rubble-strewn sand and carried containers of food on their heads.

On Wednesday, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that over 376,000 Palestinians had reached northern Gaza from the south. Israeli forces withdrew Monday to let Palestinians head north in accordance with the 42-day ceasefire agreement that paused the Israel-Hamas war.

It was first time that many of these civilians who fled south in October 2023 — when Israel began its offensive in response to the militant group’s Oct. 7 attack — could return home. But their faces didn’t reflect enthusiasm: They were leaving one disaster zone for another.

Months of intensive Israeli bombardment, demolitions and gunbattles with Palestinian militants have laid waste to large swaths of northern Gaza.

“The most difficult day in my life was the day of the ceasefire,” said Suad Saleh, a frail-looking woman in a wheelchair who arrived Wednesday to the remnants of what was once her home in Gaza City. “On the day of the ceasefire I understood that my home was destroyed."

“Where will I return to? A tent,” she said. "From a tent to a tent.”

JERUSALEM — An Israeli official said Wednesday that Hamas' next hostage release the following day will free three Israelis, including two women and an 80-year-old man, and five Thai nationals.

The official named the Israel women as Arbel Yehoud, 29, Agam Berger, 19, and the man as Gadi Moses. The official said the hostages’ families had approved publication of their names.

The official did not name the Thai nationals set to be freed Thursday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.

A total of 33 hostages are set to be freed as part of the ceasefire’s initial six-week phase. In exchange, Israel is releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

By Tia Goldenberg

JERUSALEM — Israel said Wednesday it had received the list of hostages slated for release by Hamas, clearing another hurdle in the tenuous ceasefire between the sides. The statement from Israel’s prime minister’s office did not disclose the names of the hostages set to be released Thursday.

An additional group of hostages is to be released on Saturday. They are expected to all be men, according to the prime minister’s office’s hostages division.

The Israel-Hamas truce appeared at risk over the weekend, when Hamas did not release a hostage that Israel demanded be part of the second batch of freed captives. Israel in response refused to allow the return of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to northern Gaza as part of the deal until it received assurances that the hostage, a female civilian, would be released.

International mediation efforts appeared to resolve the standoff and Israel allowed the returnees to move north.

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Wednesday with a high-ranking Hamas delegation, marking his first encounter with the group since the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

Unlike many of its NATO allies, Turkey does not consider Hamas to be a terrorist organization and Erdogan has maintained a close relationship with the group, regularly hosting its leaders.

A brief statement from the president’s office said Erdogan met with the delegation, which includes senior leader Mohammed Darwish and other members of the Hamas leadership council, in the Turkish capital Ankara.

The statement did not provide further details but a photograph of the meeting showed that Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and intelligence chief, Ibrahim Kalin, were present.

BEIRUT — An Israeli drone strike wounded five people in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, according to the country's Heath Ministry, in a village where civilians were protesting for Israeli soldiers to let them access their lands.

The Health Ministry said the strike in Majdal Selm hit “families,” a term it uses for civilians trying to reenter their villages. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strike.

Despite a Sunday deadline, Israel's military did not withdraw from southern Lebanon under the terms of its ceasefire with the militant group Hezbollah.

Protests have since been held daily, and the Israeli military has sometimes responded with gunfire, killing 26 people. The U.S. and Lebanon announced a ceasefire extension until Feb. 18.

Two Israeli strikes on Tuesday wounded 36 people, the Health Ministry said. The Israeli military said it targeted “a Hezbollah truck and an additional vehicle that transferred weapons.”

The strikes were north of the Litani River. The ceasefire prohibits Hezbollah from having a military presence south of the river.

One of the strikes hit an amusement park, leaving it in ruins with shattered bumper cars, a twisted Ferris wheel and carousel. “This city is meant as an entertainment facility for children,” said Haitham Alam, the park's manager.

CAIRO — Egypt’s president rejected on Wednesday a suggestion by President Donald Trump that Palestinians from the war-torn Gaza Strip be moved to neighboring Egypt and Jordan, saying it would undermine the idea of an independent Palestinian state and that an influx of refugees could destabilize his country.

In his first public comments on Trump’s suggestion, President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said “there are historical rights that cannot be ignored” and called the idea “an injustice” which Egypt would not be party to.

He said his government would work with the Trump administration to achieve a peace that's based on the two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.

He warned that any transfer of Palestinians out of their territories “means destabilizing not only the Egyptian national security, but also the Arab national security.”

Both Egypt and Jordan are key U.S. allies that have made peace with Israel but support the creation of a Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem.

MOSCOW — Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that a Russian delegation’s visit to Damascus the day before, the first since the fall of former President Bashar Assad, an ally of Russia, was “an important trip" for building dialogue with Syrian authorities.

Peskoy refused to comment on reports that the Syrian authorities demanded that Moscow pay some kind of compensation to Syria or on unnamed sources claiming another demand was to extradite Assad, who fled to Russia and was granted asylum there.

“I am leaving this without any comment. We will continue the dialogue with the Syrian authorities,” Peskov said in a response to a reporter's question.

Syrian state-run news agency SANA reported Wednesday that the discussions had included “Russia’s role in rebuilding trust with the Syrian people through concrete measures such as reparations, reconstruction and recovery." It said the talks were also on “transitional justice mechanisms aimed at ensuring accountability and justice for the victims of the brutal war waged by the Assad regime.”

JERUSALEM — Israeli authorities say they have arrested 12 Palestinians in east Jerusalem who celebrated the release of prisoners under the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal.

Israel’s internal Shin Bet security service and the police said they arrested the men late Tuesday after videos taken earlier in the week showed the men celebrating the release of the prisoners by waving Hamas flags and firing guns into the air.

They say the Palestinians who celebrated the release had violated the ban on “expressions of joy” and “identification with Hamas” that Israel has imposed since the ceasefire took hold. They said a search revealed Hamas flags, posters, fireworks, a BB gun and cash.

Under the first phase of the deal, Hamas is releasing 33 hostages taken in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack that ignited the war in exchange for the release for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including some serving life sentences for deadly attacks on Israelis.

Palestinians generally view the prisoners as heroes imprisoned for fighting against Israel’s decades-long occupation of lands they want for a future state.

Children on the top of an ousted Syrian government forces tank that was left on a street in the town of Marea on the outskirts of Aleppo city, Syria, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

FILE - Syria's de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, walks in the presidential palace ahead of his meeting with Walid Ellafi, Libyan minister of state for communication and political affairs, in Damascus, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy, File)

FILE - A mural of female Israeli soldiers who were abducted and brought to Gaza is displayed in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)

An aerial photograph taken by a drone shows the destruction caused by the Israeli air and ground offensive in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammad Abu Samra)

Palestinian children wait next to a row of jerrycans to collect water in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, after Israel began allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to the heavily damaged area last Monday. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

A man looks at the damages at an amusement park that was hit Tuesday night by an Israeli airstrike, in Nabatiyeh town, southern Lebanon, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Displaced Palestinians walk on a road in central Gaza to return to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A Palestinian family sits outside a tent next to their destroyed house in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, after Israel began allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to the heavily damaged area last Monday. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Displaced Palestinians walk on a road in central Gaza to return to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Displaced Palestinians walk on a road in central Gaza to return to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinian children wait next to a row of jerrycans to collect water in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, after Israel began allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to the heavily damaged area last Monday.(AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinians who have returned walk among the rubble of buildings largely destroyed by Israeli army bombardments in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, after Israel began allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to the heavily damaged area last Monday.(AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Displaced Palestinians arrive to Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, after Israel began allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to the heavily damaged area last Monday. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

A Palestinian walks past buildings that were destroyed by the Israeli air and ground offensive are seen at the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood in Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohamamd Abu Samra)

Buildings that were destroyed by the Israeli air and ground offensive are seen at the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood in Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohamamd Abu Samra)

Palestinians stand next to tents surrounded by buildings that were destroyed by the Israeli air and ground offensive are seen at the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood in Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohamamd Abu Samra)

Buildings that were destroyed by the Israeli air and ground offensive are seen at the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood in Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohamamd Abu Samra)

Buildings that were destroyed by the Israeli air and ground offensive are seen at the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood in Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohamamd Abu Samra)

Palestinians walk through buildings that were destroyed by the Israeli air and ground offensive are seen at the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood in Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohamamd Abu Samra)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The head of Iran’s judiciary signaled Wednesday there would be fast trials and executions ahead for those detained in nationwide protests despite a warning from U.S. President Donald Trump.

The comments from Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei come as activists had warned hangings of those detained could come soon. Already, a bloody security force crackdown on the demonstrations has killed at least 2,571, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported. That figure dwarfs the death toll from any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Trump repeatedly has warned that the United States may take military action over the killing of peaceful protesters, just months after it bombed Iranian nuclear sites during a 12-day war launched by Israel against the Islamic Republic in June.

Meanwhile Wednesday, Iran held a mass funeral of some 100 security force members killed in the demonstrations after authorities earlier said it would be 300. Tens of thousands of mourners attended, holding Iranian flags and photos of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The caskets, covered in Iranian flags, stood stacked at least three high. Red and white roses and framed photographs of people who were killed covered them.

People elsewhere remained fearful in the streets. Plainclothes security forces still milled around some neighborhoods, though anti-riot police and members of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard's all-volunteer Basij force appeared to have been sent back to their barracks.

“We are very frightened because of these sounds (of gunfire) and protests,” said one mother of two children shopping for fruits and vegetables Wednesday, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. “We have heard many are killed and many are injured. Now peace has been restored but schools are closed and I’m scared to send my children to school again.”

Ahmadreza Tavakoli, 36, told The Associated Press he witnessed one demonstration in Tehran and was shocked by the use of firearms by authorities.

“People were out to express themselves and protest, but quickly it turned into a war zone,” Tavakoli said. “The people do not have guns. Only the security forces have guns.”

Mohseni-Ejei made the comment in a video shared by Iranian state television online.

“If we want to do a job, we should do it now. If we want to do something, we have to do it quickly,” he said. “If it becomes late, two months, three months later, it doesn’t have the same effect. If we want to do something, we have to do that fast.”

His comments stand as a direct challenge to Trump, who warned Iran about executions an interview with CBS aired Tuesday.

“We will take very strong action,” Trump said. “If they do such a thing, we will take very strong action.”

“We don’t want to see what’s happening in Iran happen. And you know, if they want to have protests, that’s one thing, when they start killing thousands of people, and now you’re telling me about hanging — we’ll see how that works out for them. It’s not going to work out good.”

One Arab Gulf diplomat told the AP that major Mideast governments had been discouraging the Trump administration from launching a war now with Iran, fearing “unprecedented consequences” for the region that could explode into a “full-blown war.” The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to journalists.

Meanwhile, activists said Wednesday that Starlink was offering free service in Iran. The satellite internet service has been key in getting around an internet shutdown launched by the theocracy on Jan. 8. Iran began allowing people to call out internationally on Tuesday via their mobile phones, but calls from people outside the country into Iran remain blocked.

“We can confirm that the free subscription for Starlink terminals is fully functional,” said Mehdi Yahyanejad, a Los Angeles-based activist who has helped get the units into Iran. “We tested it using a newly activated Starlink terminal inside Iran.”

Starlink itself did not immediately acknowledge the decision.

Security service personnel also apparently were searching for Starlink dishes, as people in northern Tehran reported authorities raiding apartment buildings with satellite dishes. While satellite television dishes are illegal, many in the capital have them in homes, and officials broadly had given up on enforcing the law in recent years.

The Human Rights Activists News Agency said 2,403 of the dead were protesters and 147 were government-affiliated. Twelve children were killed, along with nine civilians it said were not taking part in protests. More than 18,100 people have been detained, the group said.

Gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult, and the AP has been unable to independently assess the toll given the communications being disrupted in the country.

Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.

FILE - This frame grab from footage circulating on social media shows protesters dancing and cheering around a bonfire as they take to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world, in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP, File)

FILE - In this photo released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in a ceremony to mark the Shiite holiday of Eid al-Ghadir, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP, File)