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:
Netanyahu threatens to resume fighting in Gaza if hostages aren’t released Saturday
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.
Israel orders more troops to Gaza as the ceasefire with Hamas falters
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.
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By Josef Federman
Israel looks abroad for more construction workers as Palestinians remain banned
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.”
Hamas makes first arrests of people suspected of attacking aid trucks
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.
Trump to host the king of Jordan as he escalates pressure on his Gaza resettlement plan
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.
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Some Israeli soldiers traveling abroad are targeted for alleged war crimes in Gaza
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.
Israel’s fatal shooting of a pregnant Palestinian woman puts the focus on West Bank violence
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.
Also on Sunday, just a few streets away, another young Palestinian woman, 21, was killed by the Israeli army.
Hamas brushes off Trump's threats about releasing hostages
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.
Israeli man thought to be the oldest hostage was killed in 2023 attack, military says
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.
Malaysia's prime minister accuses Israel of colonizing Gaza
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.
UN chief says renewed fighting would led to an ‘immense tragedy’
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.
Egyptian envoy says Arab countries reject Trump's Gaza plan
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.
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