Israeli massacre kills 22 in south Lebanon, as villagers retake some occupied towns

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US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday in the Pentagon chief's first call with a foreign official since being sworn in.

Hegseth and Netanyahu "discussed the importance of advancing mutual security interests and priorities, especially in the face of persistent threats," the Pentagon said in a statement.

"The secretary stressed that the United States is fully committed, under President (Donald) Trump's leadership, to ensure that Israel has the capabilities it needs to defend itself," according to the statement, which did not specify why Hegseth spoke with Netanyahu instead of his direct counterpart Israel Katz.

Hegseth was sworn in on Saturday after being narrowly confirmed by the US Senate the night before.

The Arab League on Sunday warned against "attempts to uproot the Palestinian people from their land", after US President Donald Trump suggested a plan to "clean out" the Gaza Strip and move its population to Egypt and Jordan.

"The forced displacement and eviction of people from their land can only be called ethnic cleansing," the regional bloc's general secretariat said in a statement.

Israel-Hamas mediator Qatar says an agreement has been reached to release an Israeli hostage and allow Palestinians to return to the northern Gaza Strip.

Lebanon said Monday it would extend implementation of a ceasefire agreement with Israel until February 18, after Israel failed to meet the deadline for withdrawing troops from the country's south.

"The Lebanese government reaffirms its commitment... to continue implementing the ceasefire agreement until February 18, 2025," Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in a statement, after consulting with the country's president and parliamentary leader following "contacts with the American party responsible for supervising the agreement".

Hamas says it has handed over to mediators the required information regarding a list of Israeli captives to be released during the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will allow Palestinian to cross into the northern Gaza Strip starting Monday morning.

The White House said in a statement on Sunday that the arrangement between Lebanon and Israel would continue to be in effect until February 18, after Israel said on Friday it would keep troops in the south beyond the Sunday deadline set out in a US-brokered ceasefire that halted last year's war with Hezbollah.

The White House also said the governments of Lebanon, Israel and the United States would begin negotiations for "the return of Lebanese prisoners captured after October 7, 2023."

Egypt rejects any attempt to move Palestinians out of their land, whether temporarily or in the long term, the country's foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

Israeli forces stormed the West Bank town of Ni’lin west of Ramallah Sunday evening, the Palestinian news agency Wafa said.

The town’s mayor, Yousef Al-Khawaja, said military vehicles drove through the town but no arrests or confrontations were reported.

The Lebanese army said it was continuing its deployment across southern border towns and villages, accompanying residents returning to their homes despite the Israeli army’s "blatant refusal to adhere to the ceasefire agreement and withdraw from Lebanese territory."

In a post on X, the Lebanese military called on citizens to adhere to the army’s directives, adding that it was closely monitoring the situation in coordination with the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL, and the five-member ceasefire committee.

يواصل الجيش مواكبة الأهالي العائدين إلى البلدات الحدودية الجنوبية والوقوف إلى جانبهم في مواجهة العدو الإسرائيلي، انطلاقًا من واجبه الوطني، وذلك في ظل إصرار العدو على استهداف العسكريين والأهالي موقعًا عددًا كبيرًا من الشهداء والجرحى، ورفضه السافر للالتزام باتفاق وقف إطلاق النار،… pic.twitter.com/3Es8FNpDIu

— الجيش اللبناني (@LebarmyOfficial) January 26, 2025

A child aged only 2 and a half succumbed to her injuries after she was shot in the head by Israeli forces in Jenin, where the Israeli military has been leading an operation there this week.

In a statement released on Sunday Hezbollah applauded Lebanese civilians who went back to their homes in the south even as Israel's occupation went past the 60-day-deadline.

"Through their heroic resistance, they renew the expulsion of the enemy, reaffirming that there is no place for occupiers in this blessed land, whose every grain of soil has been nourished with the bloody of martyrs," the statement read.

"We call on all Lebanese to stand united with their brothers in the south, to renew meanings of national solidarity together, and to build a true sovereignty under the banner of liberation and victory".

Hezbollah also reaffirmed the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the south.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas condemned on Sunday "any projects" to relocate the people of Gaza outside the territory, after US President Donald Trump suggested moving them to Egypt and Jordan.

Without naming the US leader, Abbas "expressed strong rejection and condemnation of any projects aimed at displacing our people from the Gaza Strip", a statement from his office said, adding that the Palestinian people "will not abandon their land and holy sites".

Israeli forces opened fire in south Lebanon on Sunday as war-displaced residents were trying to return home, killing 22 people and wounding 124 others, the Lebanese health ministry said.

"The aggression of the Israeli enemy against our citizens who were trying to return to their villages that are still under occupation has led to 22 dead, including six women and a soldier, and 124 wounded" across 19 border towns and villages, said a ministry statement, revising an earlier toll of 15 killed.

Israeli hostage Arbel Yehud will be released before the next hostages-prisoners exchange, an Islamic Jihad official told Reuters on Sunday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that mediators have reached an agreement concerning Yehud's release.

(Reuters)

Jordan's rejection of any displacement of Palestinians is "firm and unwavering," Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said on Sunday, in what seemed to be a veiled response to US President Donald Trump's suggestion that Egypt and Jordan should take more Palestinians from Gaza.

(Reuters)

French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday called on Israeli Prime Minister to "withdraw his forces still present in Lebanon", his office said in a readout of a phone call between the two leaders.

"The President of the Republic stressed to the Prime Minister the importance of ensuring that nothing compromises the efforts of the new Lebanese authorities to restore the authority of the state throughout the territory of their country," the Elysee Palace said.

US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, will travel to Israel on Wednesday to oversee the Gaza ceasefire, Israel's Channel 13 reported on Sunday, citing two Israeli officials.

(Reuters)

Gaza's Ministry of Health said on Sunday the death toll from the war with Israel had reached 47,306, with numbers rising in spite of a ceasefire as new bodies are found under the rubble.

The ministry said hospitals in the Gaza Strip had received 23 bodies in the past 72 hours - 14 "recovered from under the rubble", five who "succumbed to their injuries" from earlier in the war, and four new fatalities.

It did not specify how the new fatalities occurred.

The ministry said the war had also left 111,483 people wounded.

Some Palestinians have died from wounds inflicted before the ceasefire, with the health system in the Palestinian territory largely destroyed by more than 15 months of fighting and bombardment.

The ministry again reiterated its appeal for Palestinians to submit information about dead or missing people to help update its records.

An Israeli drone targeted the Martyrs Cemetary in the Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus, during the funeral of a Palestinian man killed overnight.

Local sources told Wafa the missile landed in the cemetery but did not explode, forcing people to evacuate as a precaution. Bomb disposal units were dispatched to the site to investigate the incident and warned the public to avoid the area.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar praised Donald Trump on Sunday for releasing a "crucial defence shipment" to Israel, after media reported the US president had authorised the sending of 2,000-pound bombs that the Biden administration had halted.

"Thank you, President Trump, for yet another display of leadership by releasing the crucial defence shipment to Israel," Saar said on X, adding the region is safer when "Israel has what it needs to defend itself".

Thank you President Trump @realDonaldTrump for yet another display of leadership by releasing the crucial defense shipment to Israel. The region is safer when Israel has what it needs to defend itself. 🇮🇱🇺🇸

— Gideon Sa'ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) January 26, 2025

France's President Emmanuel Macron will allow Israeli companies to attend this year's Paris air show, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said after a call Sunday between the two leaders.

"The French president assured the prime minister that Israeli companies would be able to participate in the Paris Air Show", Netanyahu's office said in a statement. The pair fell out last year after Macron restricted Israeli businesses at a French arms fair and called for weapons restrictions on the country over Israel's war on Gaza.

The Lebanese health ministry said the Israeli army opened fire Sunday on residents of southern Lebanon trying to return to their villages, killing 15 people and wounding dozens, according to an updated toll

"The aggressions of the Israeli enemy against citizens who were trying to return to their villages that are still under occupation have left 15 people dead including a soldier of the Lebanese army and three women," the ministry said, raising an earlier toll of 11 dead.

Israel has refused to allow Palestinians in Gaza to return north until Hamas releases Israeli captive Arbel Yehud from the enclave.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu stands firm on the decision he made not to allow the passage of Gazans northward through the Netzarim Corridor - until the issue of the return of Arbel Yehud is arranged," an Israeli official was quoted by Times of Israel as telling reporters.

The Lebanese health ministry said the Israeli army opened fire Sunday on residents of southern Lebanon trying to return to their villages, killing 11 people and wounding 83 others, according to an updated toll.

"The aggressions of the Israeli enemy against citizens trying to return to their villages that are still under occupation have left 11 people dead including a soldier of the Lebanese army and two women, as well as 83 wounded so far," the health ministry said, raising an earlier toll of three dead civilians.

Israeli soldiers discharged warning shots in multiple areas of southern Lebanon on Sunday after detecting threats posed by approaching suspects, the military said following reports Israeli troops had killed three people and wounded 31 others.

The military said several suspects, who allegedly posed an imminent threat to troops, were apprehended and are being questioned. The military did not say how many suspects had approached troops nor how many were being held for questioning.

The statement did not specify where in southern Lebanon the warning shots had been fired or if anyone had been struck.

(Reuters)

Gaza's civil defence agency said tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians were being blocked from returning to the north of the territory on Sunday at an Israeli military barrier.

"Tens of thousands of displaced people are waiting near the Netzarim Corridor to return to the northern Gaza Strip," agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP, with Israel refusing to allow them through in a dispute over a hostage release. AFP journalists in the area saw huge crowds of Gazans gathered on a coastal road near the barrier waiting to get through.

Conditions are 'not yet in place' for the safe return of Lebanese citizens to southern Lebanon, according to a joint statement by the top UN official in Lebanon and the chief of the UN peacekeeping mission to Lebanon on Sunday.

They said that the timelines set under the US-brokered ceasefire that halted last year's war with Hezbollah were not met, urging recommitment from both Israel and Lebanon.

The statement comes after Israeli forces killed three people and wounded 44 others trying to return to homes in south Lebanon where Israeli troops remained on the ground after a deadline for their withdrawal passed on Sunday.

(Reuters)

Israeli fire killed one Lebanese soldier and wounded another in Mais al-Jabal village in southern Lebanon, according to a statement by the Lebanese army.

(Reuters)

Hamas on Sunday accused Israel of violating the Gaza ceasefire agreement by preventing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from returning to their homes in the northern part of the territory.

"The occupation is stalling under the pretext of prisoner Arbel Yehud, despite the movement informing mediators that she is alive and providing all the necessary guarantees for her release," Hamas said in a statement. "Hamas holds Israel responsible for the delay in implementing the agreement," it added.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar praised US President Donald Trump on Sunday for authorising the release of a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel that had previously been halted by the Biden administration.

"Thank you, President Trump, for yet another display of leadership by releasing the crucial defence shipment to Israel," Saar said on X, adding the region is safer when "Israel has what it needs to defend itself".

Israeli soldiers fired on a car carrying a Lebanese army soldier in the town of Deir Mimas, shattering the glass and causing minor injures to the soldier, the country's National News Agency reported.

A senior Hamas official told AFP on Sunday that the Palestinian militant group would oppose US President Donald Trump's idea to relocate Gazans to Egypt and Jordan.

"As they have foiled every plan for displacement and alternative homelands over the decades, our people will also foil such projects," said Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas political bureau, referring to Trump's comments.

Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad on Sunday condemned US President Donald Trump's idea to relocate Gazans to Egypt and Jordan, calling it an encouragement of "war crimes".

Describing Trump's idea as "deplorable," the group, which fought a deadly war with Israel in Gaza alongside Hamas until a 19 January ceasefire, stated: "This proposal falls within the framework of encouraging war crimes and crimes against humanity by forcing our people to leave their land."

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Sunday welcomed US President Donald Trump's idea to "clean out" Gaza by relocating Palestinian residents of the territory to Egypt and Jordan.

On Saturday, Trump said he had spoken to Jordan's King Abdullah II about moving Palestinians out of Gaza.

"I'd like Egypt to take people. And I'd like Jordan to take people," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, adding that he expected to talk to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday.

Smotrich, a strong opponent of stopping the war in Gaza, welcomed the idea.

"The idea of helping them find other places to start a better life is a great idea. After years of glorifying terrorism, they will be able to establish new and good lives in other places," Smotrich said in a statement.

"Only out-of-the-box thinking with new solutions will bring a solution of peace and security.

"I will, with God's help, work with the prime minister and the cabinet to ensure there is an operational plan to implement this as soon as possible," Smotrich said.

Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun has called on Lebanese residents attempting to return south to "trust" the country's armed forces and that the country's sovereignty was non-negotiable after Israeli soldiers occupying the south kill two and wound 31 making the attempt.

Aoun was quoted by the country's National News Agency as saying that "I share with our people in the south the joy of the victory of truth and I call on them to exercise self-control and trust in the [Lebanese] armed forces."

"Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity are non-negotiable, and I am following up on this issue at the highest levels to ensure your rights and dignity," he added.