Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday threatened to withdraw from the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and resume its war against Hamas if the militant group does not go ahead with the next scheduled release of hostages on Saturday.
Hamas accuses Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement, including by not allowing a surge of tents and shelters into the devastated territory. U.S. President Donald Trump threated that “all hell” will break out if the militant group does not release the remaining Israeli hostages held in Gaza by Saturday.
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Displaced Palestinians, traveling in vehicles, wait in line to pass through a security checkpoint at the Netzarim corridor as they make their way from central Gaza to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Relatives of hostages, held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, protest outside of Israel's Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025, after the militant group announced it would delay hostage releases in the Gaza Strip after accusing Israel of violating a fragile ceasefire. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Relatives and supporters of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip protest outside the prime minister's office in Jerusalem on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. after Hamas announced it would delay a planned hostage release after accusing Israel of violating a fragile ceasefire. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Israeli soldiers gather by the border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Tuesday, Feb.11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Destroyed buildings by Israeli bombardments inside the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Tuesday, Feb.11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Destroyed buildings by Israeli bombardments inside the northern Gaza Strip can be seen as Israeli soldiers work on their tank in southern Israel, Tuesday, Feb.11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
FILE - President Donald Trump stands with Jordan's King Abdullah II at the White House, June 25, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
A supporter of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip holds a sign during a protest on a highway after the militant group announced it would delay a planned hostage release after accusing Israel of violating a fragile ceasefire. in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Displaced Palestinians make their way from central Gaza to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
At the White House, Trump is hosting Jordan’s King Abdullah II as he escalates pressure on the key U.S. ally to take in refugees from Gaza — perhaps permanently — as part of his audacious plan to remake the Middle East. Palestinians and the international community have seethed over Trump’s recent comments that any Palestinians potentially expelled from Gaza would not have a right to return.
During the first phase of the ceasefire, Hamas has committed to freeing a total of 33 hostages captured in its Oct. 7, 2023, attack in exchange for Israel releasing nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. The sides have carried out five swaps since Jan. 19, freeing 21 hostages and over 730 Palestinian prisoners so far. The war could resume in early March if no agreement is reached on the more complicated second phase of the ceasefire, which calls for the return of all remaining hostages and an indefinite extension of the truce.
Here's the latest:
CAIRO — Egypt says it will unveil its own plan for rebuilding Gaza that would keep Palestinians on their land and respect their rights, as U.S. President Donald Trump renewed his call to expel Gaza’s population from the devastated territory.
In a statement, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said it hopes to work with the Trump administration on a plan for reconstructing Gaza that won’t jeopardize regional peace and stability. Egypt and Jordan have raised security concerns about Trump’s plan for them to take in large numbers of additional Palestinian refugees, even temporarily.
Arab leaders and senior officials will meet soon to coordinate their positions in the face of Trump’s plan, said Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, in an interview with state-run Al-Mamlaka TV.
WASHINGTON — After meeting with President Donald Trump, Jordan’s King Abdullah II said Tuesday that his country would be willing “right away” to take as many as 2,000 children in Gaza who have cancer or are otherwise ill.
Last week, the top World Health Organization official for Gaza said between 12,000 and 14,000 patients still need medical evacuation from the territory — including 5,000 children. At the current rate, Dr. Rik Peeperkorn said medical evacuations will take five to 10 years and critically ill patients will die.
Jordan's Foreign Minister,
CAIRO — The Palestinian militant group Hamas condemned U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to empty Gaza of its Palestinian residents, alleging his comments Tuesday were “racist” and “a call for ethnic cleansing.”
The group declared Tuesday that Gaza’s residents have endured relentless bombardment and aggression but remain steadfast in their homeland.
In a statement on the messaging app Telegram, Hamas accused Trump of seeking to “liquidate the Palestinian cause and deny the national rights of the Palestinian people.”
Trump repeated his plan Tuesday for the U.S. to take control of Gaza and remove its population. Neighboring Arab governments and the Palestinians have roundly rejected the idea. United Nations experts define ethnic cleansing as a policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove the civilian population of another group from certain areas “by violent and terror-inspiring means.”
Hamas also reaffirmed its commitment to the ceasefire agreement with Israel mediated by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States.
“However, Israel has failed to uphold its obligations, and it bears full responsibility for any complications or delays,” Hamas stated. The group has said it will delay the next release of three Israeli hostages set for Saturday, accusing Israel of violating the truce deal.
WASHINGTON — Jordan’s King Abdullah II renewed the Arab nations' unified rejection of a plan by President Donald Trump to seek U.S. ownership of the Gaza Strip and expel its Palestinian population.
Following Tuesday's meeting with Trump at the White House, Abdullah called on the U.S. to take a leading role in creating peace and stability in the Middle East. He said addressing the dire humanitarian situation in war-torn Gaza by rebuilding — not displacing its population — should be the main focus of all parties.
“This requires US leadership. President Trump is a man of peace,” Abdullah said in post on the social media platform X. “He was instrumental in securing the Gaza ceasefire. We look to US and all stakeholders in ensuring it holds.”
A “just peace” would see an independent Palestinian state established alongside Israel, the king said. Jordan is already home to more than 2 million Palestinian refugees.
After the meeting, Abdullah was asked repeatedly by reporters about Trump’s plan to clear out Gaza and overhaul it as a resort on the Mediterranean Sea — but didn’t make substantive comments on it while also not committing to the idea that his country could accept large numbers of new refugees from Gaza.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump renewed his suggestions that Gaza could be emptied of residents, controlled by the U.S. and redeveloped as a tourist area, but said it wouldn’t require committing funds and insisted that he personally would not be involved in development.
“We’re not going to buy anything. We’re going to have it,” Trump said of U.S. control in Gaza, which he said would be possible, “Under the U.S. authority,” without elaborating what that actually was. Trump has suggested Palestinians in the war-torn territory would be pushed into neighboring nations with no right of return.
The president spoke after meeting Tuesday with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, who was asked repeatedly by reporters about Trump’s audacious plan to remake the Middle East, but didn’t make substantive comments on it nor the idea that his country could accept large numbers of new refugees from Gaza.
Trump also renewed his suggestions that a tenuous ceasefire between Hamas and Israel could be canceled if Hamas doesn’t release all the remaining hostages by midday Saturday.
“I don’t think they’re going to make the deadline, personally,” Trump said of Hamas. “They want to play tough guy. We’ll see how tough they are.”
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday threatened to withdraw from the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and resume its war against Hamas if the militant group does not go ahead with the next scheduled release of hostages on Saturday.
Hamas repeated its warning Tuesday that it planned to delay the release of three more hostages after accusing Israel breaking the terms of the ceasefire, including by not allowing enough tents and other aid into Gaza.
U.S. President Donald Trump has emboldened Israel to call for the release of even more remaining hostages on Saturday, but it wasn’t immediately clear whether Netanyahu’s threat referred to the release of all remaining hostages in Gaza, or just the three scheduled for release on Saturday.
JERUSALEM — An Israeli official says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the military to increase troops in and around the Gaza Strip after Hamas said it would call off a scheduled hostage release this weekend.
The official said Netanyahu also ordered officials “to prepare for every scenario if Hamas doesn’t release our hostages this Saturday.” The Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a closed-door meeting, was not clear if Netanyahu’s order referred to all hostages, or the three scheduled for release on Saturday.
The preparation plans come after Netanyahu met with his Security Cabinet for four hours on Tuesday to discuss Hamas’ threat, which has put the fragile ceasefire agreement in danger. Hamas accuses Israel of violating the ceasefire, including by not allowing enough of the agreed-upon tents and shelters into the Gaza Strip.
By Josef Federman
JERUSALEM — Israel will provide several thousand additional work permits for foreign construction laborers, a decision that signals Israel intends to keep barring Palestinians in the occupied West Bank from working in Israel.
Before Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack, some 150,000 Palestinians from the West Bank and roughly 18,000 from Gaza were allowed to work in Israel — mainly in construction, manufacturing and agriculture. However, during the war, Israeli authorities barred entry to all Palestinians from Gaza and most from the West Bank, saying it was necessary for security. The move left tens of thousands of Palestinians jobless and caused a widely reported shortage of workers on the Israeli side.
A statement released Tuesday by the Ministry of Construction and the prime minister’s office said the quota for private importation of foreign workers into the construction industry would be raised from 25,000 to 30,000, and that various other barriers to bringing in foreign workers would be eased. The statement said there are currently approximately 60,000 foreign workers in the construction industry in Israel, compared with some 30,000 before the war, and that the new steps were needed to “accelerate the pace of construction in Israel.”
CAIRO — The Interior Ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said on Tuesday that its police forces had arrested five people suspected of attacking aid trucks, apparently the first such arrests by Hamas during the ceasefire.
In a terse statement, the ministry that oversees police forces said the suspects allegedly attacked aid trucks in Gaza’s City southern neighborhood of Zaytoun. The ministry did not provide details about those arrested or the amount of goods stolen but warned that police forces will take “strict measure” against those attacking aid trucks across Gaza.
Although Hamas has made efforts to project its power and control over Gaza since the ceasefire began, the looting and robbery of aid trucks was an issue during the war. Emboldened by a security vacuum amid the fighting, looters hijacked trucks carrying food or fuel.
U.N. officials have said criminal gangs stealing from convoys made aid distribution difficult, but U.N. Undersecretary for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher said days after the ceasefire began that a halt to looting had improved aid workers’ ability to operate. Israel has also accused Hamas of stealing aid.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will host Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House on Tuesday as he escalates pressure on the Arab nation to take in refugees from Gaza — perhaps permanently — as part of his audacious plan to remake the Middle East.
Trump has proposed the U.S. take control of Gaza and turn it into “the Riviera of the Middle East,” with Palestinians in the war-torn territory pushed into neighboring nations with no right of return.
He suggested on Monday that, if necessary, he would withhold U.S. funding from Jordan and Egypt, longtime U.S. allies and among the top recipients of its foreign aid, as a means of persuading them to accept additional Palestinians from Gaza.
Jordan has flatly rejected Trump’s plan to relocate civilians from Gaza.
In addition to concerns about jeopardizing the long-held goals of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, Egypt and Jordan have privately raised security concerns about welcoming large numbers of additional refugees into their countries even temporarily.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — An Israeli army reservist’s dream vacation in Brazil ended abruptly last month over an accusation that he committed war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
A pro-Palestinian legal group had convinced a federal judge in Brazil to open a war crimes investigation for his alleged participation in the demolition of civilian homes in Gaza.
The group, the Hind Rajab Foundation, has brought dozens of complaints in more than 10 countries, using a legal concept called “universal jurisdiction,” which allows governments to prosecute people for the most serious crimes regardless of where they are allegedly committed. Its campaign has yet to yield any arrests.
The Israeli army reservist accused by the foundation fled Brazil and is back in Israel. In response to Brazil’s pursuit of the reservist, the Israeli military has prohibited soldiers below a certain rank from being named in news articles and requires their faces to be obscured. It has also warned soldiers against social media posts related to their military service or travel plans.
KAFR AL-LABAD, West Bank — Palestinians say the fatal shooting of a pregnant 23-year-old in a refugee camp in the northern West Bank signals a worrying trend toward more lethal, warlike tactics by Israel in the occupied territory.
Israeli military vehicles surrounded the camp last week as part of a larger crackdown on Palestinian militants across the northern West Bank that has escalated since the ceasefire began between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has announced the expansion of the military’s operations in the area, saying it was meant to prevent Hamas’ ally Iran from establishing a foothold in the territory.
The Israeli army issued a short statement after the killing of 23-year-old Sondos Shalabi, saying it had referred it to the military police for criminal investigation.
Her father-in-law, Mohammed Shula keeps thinking about how soldiers saw Shalabi’s body bleeding on the ground and did nothing to help as they handcuffed his other son and marched him into their vehicle.
“Why did they shoot them? They were doing nothing wrong. They could have stopped them, asked a question, but no, they just shot,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Also on Sunday, just a few streets away, another young Palestinian woman, 21, was killed by the Israeli army.
CAIRO — Hamas has brushed off President Donald Trump’s threat that “all hell” will break out if it does not release the remaining Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip by Saturday.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Tuesday that the dozens of hostages would only be returned if all parties remain committed to a ceasefire deal reached last month.
“Trump must remember there is an agreement that must be respected by both parties. This is the only way to bring back prisoners,” he said.
“The language of threats has no value; it only complicates matters,” he added.
Hamas has said to delay the next release of three Israeli hostages planned for Saturday, accusing Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement, including by not allowing a surge of tents and shelters into the devastated territory.
Trump said Monday that the ceasefire should be canceled if Hamas doesn’t release all the remaining hostages it is holding in Gaza by midday on Saturday — though he also said that such a decision would be up to Israel.
The agreement calls for the gradual release of dozens of hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
TEL AVIV, Israel — An Israeli man who was thought to be alive and in Hamas captivity was killed during the 2023 attack and his body taken to Gaza, the military said Tuesday.
Shlomo Mantzur was thought to be the oldest hostage held by the militant group in Gaza and because of his age became a symbol in Israel of the brutality of Hamas’ hostage-taking tactic.
He was 85 at the time of the attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The military said the determination of Mantzur’s death was based on intelligence gathered in recent months.
News of Mantzur’s death comes as Israelis have been outraged over the poor condition of hostages who are being freed under the ceasefire with Hamas. On Tuesday, protesters briefly blocked a main highway calling for more hostages to be freed.
That anger is putting heavy pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend the ceasefire, what would allow for more hostages to be freed. More than 70 hostages, nearly half of them said by Israel to be dead, are still held captive in Gaza.
Kibbutz Kissufim, where Mantzur was from, said he was “a father, a grandfather, a true friend and the beating heart” of the community.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim criticized Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip as colonization, as the ceasefire with Hamas seemed to falter.
“This is a colonization, a project of colonization,” he said at a news conference Tuesday with visiting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “How much negotiations can you have when the colonizer has not withdrawn?”
Israel and Hamas are halfway through the six-week first phase of their ceasefire, but Hamas has threatened to delay the next release of hostages because it accused Israel of continuing airstrikes and hindering humanitarian aid and the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza.
Predominantly Muslim Malaysia is a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause and has pushed for a two-state solution.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza, and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war, territories the Palestinians want for a future state.
“This is also an issue of politics of dispossession. When you rob people’s land, people’s houses, people’s property… therefore there are two issues here we have to resolve. One of course immediate humanitarian assistance, but also a long term just amicable resolution to the problem,” Anwar said.
UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has called for the extension of a fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, saying a resumption of hostilities “would lead to an immense tragedy.”
He called on the Hamas militant group to continue freeing Israeli hostages after it threatened to delay the next release. Hamas accuses Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement.
“Both sides must fully abide by their commitments,” Guterres said in a statement Tuesday. He also urged the sides to hold serious negotiations over the next phase of the agreement, in which Hamas is to release dozens of remaining hostages abducted in its 2023 attack in exchange for an end to the war.
CAIRO — Egypt’s top diplomat has told U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Arab countries reject President Donald Trump’s proposal to take over the Gaza Strip and relocate its Palestinian population.
That’s according to a statement from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry after Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty’s meeting late Monday with Rubio in Washington.
The statement said Abdelatty stressed the importance of accelerating Gaza’s reconstruction while Palestinians remain there.
Abdelatty also stressed the importance of “finding a political horizon leading to a final settlement for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict” in a way that ensures “the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the June 4, 1967 border with East Jerusalem as its capital,” the statement said.
Israel captured the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories for their future state. There is wide international support for a two-state solution to the decadeslong conflict along those lines.
Displaced Palestinians, traveling in vehicles, wait in line to pass through a security checkpoint at the Netzarim corridor as they make their way from central Gaza to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Relatives of hostages, held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, protest outside of Israel's Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025, after the militant group announced it would delay hostage releases in the Gaza Strip after accusing Israel of violating a fragile ceasefire. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Relatives and supporters of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip protest outside the prime minister's office in Jerusalem on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. after Hamas announced it would delay a planned hostage release after accusing Israel of violating a fragile ceasefire. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Israeli soldiers gather by the border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Tuesday, Feb.11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Destroyed buildings by Israeli bombardments inside the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Tuesday, Feb.11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Destroyed buildings by Israeli bombardments inside the northern Gaza Strip can be seen as Israeli soldiers work on their tank in southern Israel, Tuesday, Feb.11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
FILE - President Donald Trump stands with Jordan's King Abdullah II at the White House, June 25, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
A supporter of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip holds a sign during a protest on a highway after the militant group announced it would delay a planned hostage release after accusing Israel of violating a fragile ceasefire. in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Displaced Palestinians make their way from central Gaza to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
