The West Bank attack comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in Washington to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump and discuss the Gaza ceasefire deal.
The six-week first phase of the truce calls for the release of 33 hostages and nearly 2,000 prisoners, as well as the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza and an increase in humanitarian aid to the devastated territory.
Israel and Hamas are beginning to negotiate the second phase of the ceasefire, which calls for releasing the remaining hostages and extending the truce indefinitely. The war could resume in early March if an agreement is not reached.
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Here's the latest:
Palestinian Authority forms committee to manage recovery in Gaza
RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestinian Authority says it has formed a committee to manage reconstruction and recovery efforts in the Gaza Strip.
It was unclear if the committee would be able to operate inside Gaza. Hamas, though weakened, still controls most of the territory, and Israel has ruled out any role for the Western-backed Palestinian Authority in postwar Gaza.
The office of Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said that during a weekly Cabinet meeting Tuesday officials set up a working group “to manage the affairs of the Gaza Strip.” The committee would work to provide basic services like water, electricity, health and education, specifically in the southern Gaza Strip, with the help of “various partners,” the statement said, without elaborating.
A Palestinian official, who was not authorized to brief media and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the working group would be made up of technocrats, including independent figures from Gaza.
Hamas, which won parliamentary elections in 2006, drove the Palestinian Authority’s forces from Gaza the following year in a week of street battles.
The Biden administration had called for a reformed Palestinian Authority to govern postwar Gaza with Arab support ahead of eventual statehood. But the Israeli government, which is opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state, rejected those proposals.
It’s unclear where the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, fits into Trump’s plans for the region.
Many Israelis and Palestinians alike view the authority as corrupt and incompetent, but it is widely seen as the only political alternative to Hamas. Palestinian Authority representatives are currently staffing Gaza’s Rafah crossing with Egypt, alongside European Union observers.
— Isabel DeBre
Turkey will host 15 Palestinian prisoners released as part of ceasefire
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s state-run news agency says the country will host 15 Palestinian prisoners who were released and deported as part of the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel.
The Turkish intelligence organization, MIT, is taking steps to “facilitate” the arrival of the 15 Palestinians from Egypt, the Anadolu Agency said Tuesday.
Arrangements were made to ensure the Palestinians can live “peacefully and securely” in Turkey, Anadolu said.
The news agency did not name the Palestinians that Ankara was preparing to take in. Those who were deported have been convicted of serious crimes.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Sunday that Turkey was prepared to support the Palestinian people, including providing medical treatment for those wounded in the conflict and taking in released prisoners who would be deported from the region.
Unlike its Western allies, Turkey does not consider Hamas to be a terror organization. A strong critic of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has hosted several Hamas officials over the years.
Family members of Thai hostages released by Hamas visit them in Israeli hospital
JERUSALEM — Family members of Thai hostages released by Hamas last week after over 15 months of captivity in the Gaza Strip have visited them at the Israeli hospital where they are recuperating.
The Thai Embassy in Israel said the family members flew in on Tuesday and met with the freed hostages at the Shamir Medical Center.
Hamas released five Thai hostages last week along with three Israeli captives who were freed as part of a ceasefire agreement in exchange for 110 Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas militants kidnapped 31 Thai nationals along with scores of Israelis and a few other foreigners during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel that ignited the war.
Tens of thousands of Thai farmers work in Israel, where they can make higher wages than they can at home.
Many lived in compounds on the outskirts of southern Israeli farming communities and towns that were overrun by Hamas-led militants.
During an earlier ceasefire in November 2023, 23 Thai nationals were released in a deal negotiated between Thailand and Hamas, with assistance from Qatar and Iran.
According to Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 46 Thais have been killed during the conflict, including two Thai citizens who were killed on Oct. 7, 2023 and their bodies taken into Gaza.
At least 6 injured in West Bank attack, officials say
TEL AVIV, Israel — At least six people were injured in a shooting attack at a checkpoint in the Israeli-occupied West Bank early Tuesday morning, according to the Israeli military and area hospitals.
The Israeli military said an attacker fired at soldiers at a checkpoint in the village of Tayasir, which is in the northern West Bank. In a tense exchange, soldiers returned fire and the attacker was killed, the military added.
Israeli hospitals said they had received a total of six people injured in the shooting attack. Israeli media reported the injured are soldiers and at least two of them were critically injured.
Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant group praised the attack but neither claimed responsibility for it.
Israel has carried out an extensive operation in nearby Jenin over the past weeks to clamp down on what Israel said is militant activity in the city, as 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 at least 20 Palestinians since the start of the raid.
The West Bank has seen a surge in violence since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP