Lavrov pointed out that the meeting in Riyadh was initiated by the Russian and US presidents, who had agreed that preparations for the next summit should be started. To achieve this, foreign ministers and national security advisers were tasked with meeting and determining what needed to be worked out before the two presidents “can negotiate specific dates and timelines for the summit.”
Archiv: Palestine (East Jerusalem / West Bank / Gaza) / Palästina
US, Russian officials propose peace plan, lay ‚groundwork for cooperation‘ in Riyadh
The groups, led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, are seeking terms for a peace agreement in Ukraine as well as negotiating a potential meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. They have proposed a framework that could involve a ceasefire, elections in Ukraine followed by the signing of a peace agreement.
As Trump looks to turn page on Gaza and Ukraine, all roads lead to Riyadh
Saudi Arabia is neutral ground for Trump to restore high-level ties to Russia, but the crown prince is opposing his Gaza plans
‘Civilization has failed’: Malaysian statesman Mahathir slams US, EU over Gaza genocide
Veteran Malaysian statesman Mahathir Mohamad on Friday criticized the support extended to Israel by the US and EU, saying it is „disgusting.“
“The America which wants to be great again, aid and abet the genocide by the Israelis,” said the 99-year-old former prime minister of the Southeast Asian nation.
“So do its European allies. This is the behavior of savages, not civilized people,” he said about support provided to Tel Aviv in its genocidal military campaign in the Gaza Strip.
LIVE: Für einen gerechten Frieden in Palästina und Israel – Töten beenden, Waffenexporte stoppen!
Berlin-Mitte, vor dem Bundeskanzleramt , 15.02.2024
Gazans celebrate as released detainees arrive in Khan Yunis | AFP
Palestinians celebrate as buses carrying released detainees arrive at the European hospital in Gaza‘s Khan Yunis, as part of the sixth prisoner-hostage swap with Israel under a truce deal.
Des prisonniers palestiniens libérés par Israël accueillis par la foule à Ramallah | AFP Images
Des prisonniers palestiniens libérés par Israël sont hissés sur les épaules de la foule à leur arrivée à Ramallah, en Cisjordanie occupée, dans le cadre du sixième échange depuis le début de la trêve qui a failli volé en éclats.
Gaza death toll reaches 48,264: Health ministry
Over the past 48 hours, hospitals in Gaza have received the bodies or remains of 25 victims after being pulled out from the rubble, the sources confirmed.
According to the same sources, the number of injuries has also climbed to 111,688. Meantime, many victims remain trapped under the rubble, with emergency and civil defense teams unable to reach them.
Saudi Arabia spearheads Arab scramble for alternative to Trump‘s Gaza plan
The role of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, widely known as MbS, is shaping up to be key.
„We are telling the Americans we have a plan that works. Our meeting with MbS is going to be critical. He is taking the lead,“ said a Jordanian official.
Colonists attack Palestinian-owned lands in the northern Jordan Valley
Head of the Al-Maleh Village Council, Mahdi Daraghmeh, reported that the colonists fenced off several dunums of Palestinian land in the Wadi Al-Faw area and planted olive trees, in an apparent prelude to taking over the land.
Colonists’ attacks against Palestinians and their properties in the northern Jordan Valley have intensified in recent weeks. The attacks included physical assaults, home raids forced displacement of Palestinian herders and attempts to steal livestock and destroy property.
Palestinian Central Council asserts unity against U.S. President’s comments on forced displacement
The Council also praised the consistent support for international law and Palestinian rights from regional and global political parties, including members of the U.S. Congress, and expressed appreciation for the United Nations Secretary-General‘s defense of international law and human rights.
The Palestinian Central Council reiterated its commitment to justice through international legal bodies, including the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, rejecting President Trump’s punitive measures against the ICC.
Occupied East Jerusalem Bookstore Owners Released
On Wednesday morning a delegation of Hadash activists visited the Educational Bookstore together with MKs Odeh, Aida Touma-Sliman and Ofer Cassif. “The occupation government and its arms on the ground persecute every critical voice and anyone or anything that might encourage independent thought. Persecution will not triumph! The struggle against it will!” said Cassif.
“I left the wonderful bookstore of Ahmad and Mahmoud Muna, which was raided by the police earlier this week. During the raid, these two incredible men were arrested on charges of “disturbing public order” – selling books. They were held for two days, released to house arrest, and banned from their own bookstore for 20 days. I am proud of Mahmoud and Ahmad for standing firm in their right to peacefully resist the occupation through books and literature.
Für einen gerechten Frieden in Palästina und Israel: Das Töten endlich beenden, Waffenexporte stoppen!
Die Berliner Kundgebung wird veranstaltet von:
Amnesty International Deutschland • Ärzte der Welt • CARE Deutschland • Deutsch-Palästinensische Gesellschaft • Humanistische Union • IPPNW Deutschland • Israelis für Frieden • medico international • 4neukoellnplusberlin • Oxfam Deutschland • pax christi, Deutsche Sektion • Sea-Watch • Terre des Hommes Deutschland • Weltfriedensdienst
Außerdem rufen dazu auf:
Allianz für Kritische und Solidarische Wissenschaft • Arbeitskreis Internationalismus IG Metall Berlin • Arbeitskreis Palästina Brühl-Battir • Arbeitskreis Palästina der Lokalen Agenda 21 in Stadt und Kreis Neuwied • Berliner Krankenhausbewegung • Bundesweite Arbeitsgruppe Globalisierung und Krieg • Bündnis für Gerechtigkeit zwischen Israelis und Palästinensern (BIP) • ChanceMaker Foundation • Church and Peace • Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft – Vereinigte KriegsdienstgegnerInnen • Ende Gelände Berlin • EYE4PALESTINE • Föderation Demokratischer Arbeitervereine Berlin • Forum InformatikerInnen für Frieden und gesellschaftliche Verantwortung • Forum Ziviler Friedensdienst • Frauen wagen Frieden • Freunde von Sabeel Deutschland • Friends of Standing Together Berlin • Gaza Komitee Berlin • IALANA Deutschland – Vereinigung für Friedensrecht • Informationsbüro Nicaragua • Initiative zur Förderung der Beziehungen zwischen Nablus und Nürnberg (INNA) • Internationale der Kriegsdienstgegner*innen (IDK) • Internationale Frauenliga für Frieden und Freiheit (WILPF Germany) • Internationale Liga für Menschenrechte • Internationaler Versöhnungsbund, Deutscher Zweig • interventionistische Linke Berlin • Israelisches Komitee gegen Hauszerstörungen (ICAHD) • Kairos Palästina Solidaritätsnetz Deutschland • Kölner Friedensforum • Komitee für Grundrechte und Demokratie • Kooperation für den Frieden • Kulturkosmos Müritz (Fusion-Festival) • KURVE Wustrow – Bildungs- und Begegnungsstätte • Lebenshaus Schwäbische Alb – Gemeinschaft für soziale Gerechtigkeit, Frieden und Ökologie • Netzwerk Friedenskooperative • Netzwerk Ökumenisches Begleitprogramm in Palästina und Israel in Deutschland • Nürnberger Evangelisches Forum für den Frieden (NEFF) • Ohne Rüstung Leben • Palästina Initiative Region Hannover • Partnerschaftsverein Bonn-Ramallah • Reiter und Reiterinnen für den Frieden (Friedensritt) • Solidarität International • Städtepartnerschaftsverein Köln-Bethlehem • VVN-VdA (ehemals Westberlin) • Wuppertaler Friedensforum
Exclusive: Egyptian firm charges trucks entering Gaza $20,000 in ‘bribes’
Organi is a Sinai businessman, politician and tribal leader allied with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Organi‘s name has become synonynous with unofficial profits made out of the suffocating Gaza blockade, particularly from desperate Palestinians attempting to flee the fighting.
MEE last year revealed that Organi made at least $2m daily from Palestinians who left the Gaza Strip via the border crossing point with Egypt, the only one not directly controlled by Israel at the time. Another report revealed that Organi’s companies charged aid trucks $5000 to enter Gaza.
Heavy equipment to enter Gaza through Karem Abu Salem crossing
Heavy equipment, caravans and bulldozers currently near the Rafah crossing will enter the Gaza Strip through Karem Abu Salem, passing through the Philadelphi Corrdidor, MEE‘s reporting has found.
Ministry of Health demands immediate release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safia
The ministry added, „According to Dr. Abu Safiya‘s statement to the center‘s lawyer, he lost about 15 kilograms, suffers from an enlarged heart muscle, and was not presented to a specialist doctor or provided with treatment, despite his repeated requests to the prison administration to do so.
At the beginning of Dr. Abu Safiya‘s detention and during his transfer from the Gaza Strip, he was forced to take off his clothes, his hands were tied, and he sat on sharp pebbles for about 5 hours.
He was subjected to electric shocks and chest beatings. He also stayed in the occupation‘s cells for 25 days in Ofer Prison, including 10 days during which he was subjected to almost continuous interrogation, and fainted in the cell due to feeling suffocated, stressing that he is a doctor who only provides treatment to patients and the wounded, in addition to his position as director of Kamal Adwan Hospital.
Palestinian health ministry calls for release of doctor tortured in Israeli prison
The Palestinian Ministry of Health called for the immediate release of Dr Hussam Abu Safia, a paediatrician and director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, along with all medical staff detained by Israel, the Wafa news agency reported.
The ministry‘s call came after the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights reported that Abu Safia met his lawyer for the first time on Tuesday evening at Ofer Prison, 47 days after being „abducted“ by Israeli forces.
Gaza: Return to war must be avoided at all costs, insists UN chief
“We must avoid at all costs the resumption of hostilities in Gaza that would lead to an immense tragedy,” said the UN chief, in a statement relayed to journalists by UN Geneva spokesperson Rolando Gomez.
“I appeal to Hamas to proceed with the planned liberation of hostages next Saturday. Both sides must fully abide by their commitments in the ceasefire agreement and resume serious negotiations in Doha for the second phase.”
The development comes amid reports that Hamas suspended the scheduled release of hostages from Gaza on Saturday, on the grounds that Palestinians continue to be killed in the war-torn enclave and that too little aid is entering the Strip.
Für einen gerechten Frieden in Palästina und Israel: Das Töten endlich beenden, Waffenexporte stoppen!
Die Berliner Kundgebung wird veranstaltet von:
Amnesty International Deutschland • Ärzte der Welt • CARE Deutschland • Deutsch-Palästinensische Gesellschaft • Humanistische Union • IPPNW Deutschland • Israelis für Frieden • medico international • 4neukoellnplusberlin • Oxfam Deutschland • pax christi, Deutsche Sektion • Sea-Watch • Terre des Hommes Deutschland • Weltfriedensdienst
Außerdem rufen dazu auf:
Allianz für Kritische und Solidarische Wissenschaft • Arbeitskreis Internationalismus IG Metall Berlin • Arbeitskreis Palästina Brühl-Battir • Arbeitskreis Palästina der Lokalen Agenda 21 in Stadt und Kreis Neuwied • Berliner Krankenhausbewegung • Bundesweite Arbeitsgruppe Globalisierung und Krieg • Bündnis für Gerechtigkeit zwischen Israelis und Palästinensern (BIP) • ChanceMaker Foundation • Church and Peace • Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft – Vereinigte KriegsdienstgegnerInnen • Ende Gelände Berlin • EYE4PALESTINE • Föderation Demokratischer Arbeitervereine Berlin • Forum InformatikerInnen für Frieden und gesellschaftliche Verantwortung • Forum Ziviler Friedensdienst • Frauen wagen Frieden • Freunde von Sabeel Deutschland • Friends of Standing Together Berlin • Gaza Komitee Berlin • IALANA Deutschland – Vereinigung für Friedensrecht • Informationsbüro Nicaragua • Initiative zur Förderung der Beziehungen zwischen Nablus und Nürnberg (INNA) • Internationale der Kriegsdienstgegner*innen • Internationale Frauenliga für Frieden und Freiheit (WILPF Germany) • Internationale Liga für Menschenrechte • Internationaler Versöhnungsbund, Deutscher Zweig • interventionistische Linke Berlin • Israelisches Komitee gegen Hauszerstörungen (ICAHD) • Kairos Palästina Solidaritätsnetz Deutschland • Kölner Friedensforum • Komitee für Grundrechte und Demokratie • Kooperation für den Frieden • Kulturkosmos Müritz (Fusion-Festival) • KURVE Wustrow – Bildungs- und Begegnungsstätte • Lebenshaus Schwäbische Alb – Gemeinschaft für soziale Gerechtigkeit, Frieden und Ökologie • Netzwerk Friedenskooperative • Netzwerk Ökumenisches Begleitprogramm in Palästina und Israel in Deutschland • Nürnberger Evangelisches Forum für den Frieden (NEFF) • Ohne Rüstung Leben • Palästina Initiative Region Hannover • Partnerschaftsverein Bonn-Ramallah • Reiter und Reiterinnen für den Frieden (Friedensritt) • Solidarität International • Städtepartnerschaftsverein Köln-Bethlehem • VVN-VdA (ehemals Westberlin) • Wuppertaler Friedensforum
Kundgebung „Für einen gerechten Frieden in Palästina und Israel“ mit MdB Sevim Dagdelen
Ein breites Bündnis aus mehr als 50 Organisationen ruft am 15. Februar 2025 erneut in Berlin, Köln und Nürnberg zu Kundgebungen „Für einen gerechten Frieden in Palästina und Israel“ auf.
Stop the Wall: About Us
We strongly believe that the wall can be torn down, and with it, the racist ambitions of Israeli apartheid. We know that our struggle will not be won tomorrow, and we are not in a hurry. Our road ahead is long, and so we must build a strong foundation of resistance by staying honest and true to our principles. Generation after generation, we have to provide the youth with the lessons, guidance and trust they need and deserve so that they can continue to lead our struggle until one day we will be free and able to return to our homes.
The Palestinian struggle is, at its core, a basic human instinct and drive for self-determination. We share this yearning for freedom, justice and liberation with people across the world and the unity of our diverse struggles will eventually give us the power to overcome
UN says 40,000 displaced in West Bank as Israel accused of readying annexation
Jamal Juma‘a, head of the Stop the Wall campaign, an organisation that fights against apartheid, told Middle East Eye that the Israeli offensive is „clearly aiming to prepare the infrastructure for the annexation of land“ in the West Bank.
Annexation of occupied territory is illegal under international law. The Israeli government prefers to term it as „applying sovereignty“, though that makes little difference legally. Legality hasn‘t stopped Israel from annexation before, however.
Trump says ceasefire should be canceled if hostages aren‘t released by Saturday: ‚Let all hell break out‘
When asked if he felt the ceasefire deal should be canceled, the president said that is „Israel’s decision.“
„If all the Gaza hostages aren‘t returned by Saturday at 12 p.m., I would say cancel the ceasefire,“ Trump said in the Oval Office. „Let all hell break out; Israel can override it.“
Hamas delays captive release ‚until further notice‘ accusing Israel of violating deal
(February 10, 2025)
However, Abu Obaida, spokesman for Hamas‘s armed wing the Qassam Brigades, said it will be „postponed until further notice, pending the occupation‘s compliance and retroactive fulfullment of the past weeks‘ obligations“.
„We reaffirm our commitment to the terms of the agreement as long as the occupation adheres to them,“ he added.
Abu Obaida said the delay would continue until Israel halted its attacks on Palestinians returning to their homes in Gaza and allowed aid into the enclave at previously-agreed-to levels.
Three Israeli captives released in exchange for 183 Palestinians
The freed Israelis – Eli Sharabi, 52, Or Levy, 34, and Ohad Ben Ami, 56 – were the latest to be released under the first stage of the ceasefire agreement.
They were handed over to members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) after being photographed on a stage in front of large crowds in central Gaza‘s Deir al-Balah.
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Meanwhile, video footage showed a bus carrying Palestinian detainees from Israel‘s Ofer Prison arriving in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, on Saturday afternoon.
MK Cassif: Occupied West Bank Refugee Camps in Serious Threat of Total Destruction
MK Ofer Cassif (Hadash), warned Al Jazeera in an interview that the Palestinian refugee camps in the occupied West Bank are “in serious threat of total destruction.” “We saw in the last few days that both the refugee camp in Jenin and the refugee camp in Tulkarem are under a serious threat of total destruction and yet again another expulsion of Palestinian people from there,” he told Al Jazeera, saying this has nothing with security.
“I’m also afraid that this has been done in purpose by the Israeli government in order to foil the ceasefire in Gaza — that’s the reason I’m so worried,” Cassif added, appealing to countries in the region to not “leave behind your brothers and sisters in Palestine.” “Don’t leave the Palestinians who’ve been butchered for more than one year by the Israeli government, that should have been stopped months ago,” he said.
An Entire Palestinian Neighborhood in East Jerusalem Stands to Be Erased
Twenty-three homes were demolished last year in the community of Al-Bustan, Silwan and almost every house in the neighborhood—home to about 1,500 residents —faces the risk of demolition. In their place, the state and municipality are planning to establish a settler touristic park, as part of a broader process of taking control of Silwan and transforming it into a Jewish Israeli space—to the extent that an innocent passerby would not notice that this is part of occupied East Jerusalem and that Palestinian residents were displaced for this project to be built.
Israel accused of torturing Palestinian workers to death
The Israel Prison Service gave the Palestinian union a vague response confirming the deaths of 34 workers who died inside detention centres under „mysterious circumstances or from heart attacks“.
Badarneh explained that until 7 October 2023, 18,000 Palestinians from Gaza were in Israel with work permits.
Trump says Israel would hand over Gaza after fighting, no US troops needed
„The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting,“ he said. Palestinians „would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region.“ He added: „No soldiers by the U.S. would be needed!“
Report: Jared Kushner Behind Trump’s Call for the US To ‘Take Over’ Gaza
Citing Puck, The Times of Israel reported that Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, helped prepare the shock remarks the president made on Tuesday night during his press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Kushner, who has a long history of friendship with Netanyahu, served as an advisor to President Trump during his first term in office and was involved in negotiating the Abraham Accords, the deals that sought Israel’s regional integration without settling the issue of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory.
Trump’s Ethnic Cleansing of Gaza Is a Brutal Form of Colonial Capitalism
The colonial creation of private property from stolen land is the American way, from the theft of Indigenous people’s lands to the urban renewal clearance projects that built the modern New York City in which Donald Trump was able to thrive and build wealth. There can be no shock that the developer president’s first public words on Gaza would celebrate the old method of generating “demolition sites” (terra nullius, or empty land). In a way, Trump actually is daring those of us who support Palestinian sovereignty to understand the interdependence of capitalism and genocidal colonialism. There must be a people, and there must be a land. One without the other presents a windfall to the developers.
Trump Wants US to Take Over & Ethnically Cleanse Gaza
Asked by an Israeli reporter if he supported “Israeli sovereignty” over “Samaria, which many believe is the Biblical homeland of the Jewish,” otherwise known as the West Bank, Trump said, “Well, we are discussing that with many of your representatives … who do like that idea, but we haven’t take a position on it yet. We will be making an announcement on that specific topic over the next four weeks.”
Trump’s Gaza ‘Riviera’ plan is the most outlandish idea in the history of US Middle East peacemaking
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu couldn’t keep the smirk off his face.
And no wonder.
Trump proposes permanent displacement of Gazans as he welcomes Netanyahu to White House
President Donald Trump on Tuesday proposed moving Gazans to a “good, fresh, beautiful piece of land” in another country, offering a vision of mass displacement that would likely inflame sentiments in the Arab world as he prepared to welcome Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House.
Palestinian prisoners endure ‚systematic torture‘ before their release, monitor says
Torture was recorded in civilian and military detention facilities across Israel, resulting in the deaths of at least 60 Palestinians in Israeli custody in less than 10 months.
The systematic nature
Meanwhile, an investigation by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz has revealed that a quarter of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons have been infected with scabies in recent months.
The findings contained in the report, which cited prison officials, were the result of a petition filed by human rights organisations. of the abuse across all facilities left “no room to doubt an organised, declared policy of the Israeli prison authorities”.
Arab nations reject Trump’s call to relocate Gazans to neighboring countries
The foreign ministers of Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt issued a wide-ranging statement Saturday, saying they hoped to work with Trump on a two-state solution in the Middle East.
But they pushed back on Trump’s suggestion to relocate Palestinians from Gaza. Without specifically referencing the president’s proposal, the ministers reiterated a commitment to rebuilding the enclave while ensuring “the continued presence of Palestinians in their homeland.”
Israel kills 50 Palestinian ‘terrorists’ in West Bank
According to the IDF, it has detained 100 Palestinian terrorists and over 40 weapons have been confiscated.
Netanyahu Arrives in Washington at Critical Juncture for Mideast
Mr. Netanyahu is expected to be the first foreign leader to meet with Mr. Trump since his inauguration last month. The Israeli leader is expected to hold formative discussions with the Trump administration about several crucial regional issues.
Rafah crossing opens
The Rafah border crossing has opened for the first time in nearly nine months to allow sick and wounded Palestinian patients in Gaza to travel to Egypt for medical treatment.
In pictures: Families greet released Palestinian prisoners
A former Palestinian prisoner released by Israel is hugged by members of his family as he disembarks a Red Cross bus after arriving in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank on February 1, 2025
Gazans depend on us for ‘sheer survival’ insists UNRWA
Briefing journalists in New York on Friday, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said UN aid coordination office, OCHA, remained “deeply alarmed” by the worsening conditions for residents in norther areas of the occupied West Bank, as Israeli counter-terrorism operations continued for an 11th day.
“Nearly all of the Jenin refugee camp’s 20,000 residents have been displaced over the past two month in the context of operations by both the Palestinian Authority and Israeli security forces.
A further Israeli operation is occurring in Tulkarm where aid partners report that over 110 families have been displaced from the refugee camp there.
Exclusive: Palestinian Authority tells US it is ready to ‚clash‘ with Hamas for control of Gaza
Ziad Abu Amr, one of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s longtime advisors, would become the de facto ruler of the Gaza Strip, heading the committee. He would be appointed deputy to Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Mustafa but endowed with massive new powers.
Abu Amr was born in the Gaza Strip in 1950. He could be palatable to the Trump administration because he is also a US citizen. He obtained his PhD from Georgetown University and served as deputy Palestinian prime minister from 2013 to 2024.
Jordan faces the plan to displace Palestinians: Challenges and diplomatic moves
The challenges facing Jordan in this context are multiple, most notably the political pressures that may be exerted by the United States and some Western powers to show some flexibility towards this file. In addition, any new wave of displacement may lead to internal tensions, given the sensitivity of the demographic balance in the Kingdom.
The economic impacts cannot be ignored, as Jordan suffers from increasing financial challenges, and any increase in the number of refugees will exacerbate the pressure on resources and infrastructure. In addition, the security aspect constitutes a major concern, as the influx of large numbers of displaced persons could lead to complex security repercussions, especially in light of the tense conditions in the region.
Historic! ‚No to Displacing Palestinian People!‘ Massive Egyptian protest at Rafah on border with Gaza to reject any displacement of Palestinians – VIDEO/Live
Thousands of Egyptians, led by public figures and political delegations, are protesting in the Egyptian Rafah on the border with the Gaza Strip to reject all proposals to displace the Palestinian people from their land and any attempt to liquidate the Palestinian cause.
Egyptians gather at Rafah border crossing to protest against US plans of displacing Palestinians to Egypt, Jordan
The delegations, representing various Egyptian political forces, parties, unions, and civil society groups, are united in their opposition to statements made by US President Donald Trump, which suggest forcibly relocating Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan.
Crowds celebrate arrival of freed Palestinians prisoners near Ramallah
The Israeli government has explicitly forbade any celebrations surrounding the release.
This video has been verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking unit.
Hamas frees 8 more hostages. Israel begins releasing Palestinian prisoners after delay
Hamas-led militants freed eight hostages on Thursday as part of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, but the chaotic handover of some of the captives, who were shuttled through a rowdy crowd of thousands by masked militants, drew an angry protest from Israel.
Israel later began releasing 110 Palestinian prisoners after the swap was initially put on hold by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who demanded that mediators assure the safe exit for hostages going forward. He said later that he had received that commitment
Death toll of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons rises to 58
The Palestinian Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs‘ Commission and the Palestinian Prisoners‘ Club accused Israeli authorities of not only killing detainees but also deliberately withholding information about the circumstances of their death and fabricating reports. Rights groups have extensively documented widespread abuses, including severe beatings, torture, food and medical deprivation, and sexual violence inside Israeli prisons.
Trump‘s envoy meets Netanyahu, visits Gaza
The U.S. official visited Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
Netanyahu has long eyed ties with Riyadh and is due to meet Trump in Washington on Feb. 4, when talks for the next phase of the three-stage Gaza ceasefire are meant to formally start.