Trump meets Jordan's king, Israel says to resume war on Gaza if no captives released

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The Palestine Red Crescent said six Palestinians were injured after being assaulted by Israeli forces in Jenin, north of the occupied West Bank. The incident happened at the Jalama military checkpoint, north of the city. 

The civilians were beaten and taken to the hospital to be treated.

Egypt said on Tuesday it plans to offer a "comprehensive proposal" to rebuild Gaza while ensuring Palestinians remain on their land, according to a foreign ministry statement.

It said it is looking forward to cooperating with US President Donald Trump to reach comprehensive and just peace in the region.

The statement comes as Trump continues to press for his plan to take over the Gaza Strip and resettle its population to neighboring Egypt and Jordan despite rejection from Arab states.

(Reuters)

Egypt rejected any proposal to allocate land to Gaza residents, the state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV reported on Tuesday, citing Egyptian sources.

US President Donald Trump said earlier on the same day that he believed there would be a parcel of land in Jordan, Egypt and someplace else where Palestinians could be resettled.

(Reuters)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Tuesday, a State Department spokesperson said in a statement.

Rubio expressed a desire for further bilateral cooperation and investment, including in artificial intelligence and frontier technologies, spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in the statement.

The pair also discussed the Gaza ceasefire agreement, and Rubio thanked the president for the humanitarian assistance the UAE has provided to the war-ravaged territory, according to the statement. 

(Reuters)

Jordan's King Abdullah said on Tuesday he reiterated his country's stance against displacing Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank during a meeting with US President Donald Trump in Washington, according to a post on X.

"Achieving just peace on the basis of the two-state solution is the way to ensure regional stability. This requires US leadership. President Trump is a man of peace. He was instrumental in securing the Gaza ceasefire. We look to US and all stakeholders in ensuring it holds," the Jordanian king said.

(Reuters)

Concluded a constructive meeting with President Trump at the White House today. Grateful for the President’s warm welcome. We discussed Jordan’s longstanding partnership with the United States. It continues to be a partnership for stability, peace, and mutual security.

— عبدالله بن الحسين (@KingAbdullahII) February 11, 2025

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he had a great discussion with Jordan's King Abdullah about Gaza.

Trump made the comments after meeting with the Arab country's ruler in the Oval Office.

Ahead of that meeting, Trump reiterated his call on Jordan to take in Palestinians who would be permanently displaced under the president's plan for the US to take over the Gaza Strip. King Abdullah expressed his country's opposition to the move.

(Reuters)

Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said on Tuesday that there is an Arab Egyptian plan to rebuild Gaza without displacing its people.

Safadi was speaking to the state-owned al-Mamlaka TV shortly after Jordanian King Abdullah met US President Donald Trump in Washington as the latter pressed for his plan to take over the Gaza Strip and resettle its population in neighbouring Egypt and Jordan.

(Reuters)

King Abdullah II told Donald Trump on Tuesday that Jordan's stability was his priority, as the US president pushed to take over Gaza and send its exiled population to Jordan and Egypt.

"I stressed that my foremost commitment is to Jordan, to its stability and to the well-being of Jordanians," Abdullah said on social media after talks at the White House.

Jordan's King Abdullah II on Tuesday told Donald Trump that Arab nations were united in opposition to the US president's plan to take over Gaza and push out Palestinians.

"I reiterated Jordan's steadfast position against the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank," Abdullah said on social media after talks at the White House.

"This is the unified Arab position."

Hamas said on Tuesday that it was committed to the ceasefire deal in Gaza but said Israel had failed to "abide by its commitments" under the agreement.

"Hamas is committed to the ceasefire agreement that the (Israeli) occupation also committed to," the Palestinian militant group said in a statement, adding that "we affirm that the occupation is the party that did not abide by its commitments and is responsible for any complications or delays."

Iran alerted the United Nations on Tuesday to what it described as "reckless and inflammatory statements" by US President Donald Trump threatening the use of force and warned that "any act of aggression will have severe consequences."

In a letter to the UN Security Council, seen by Reuters, Iran's UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani referenced remarks made by Trump in interviews with the New York Post and Fox News, in which he spoke of a preference to do a deal to stop Tehran getting a nuclear weapon over bombing the country.

"These reckless and inflammatory statements flagrantly violate international law and the UN Charter," Iravani wrote to the 15-member council.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran warns that any act of aggression will have severe consequences, for which the US will bear full responsibility," he said. "Iran will resolutely defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national interests against any hostile action."

(Reuters)

Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Tuesday called on the prime minister to "open the gates of hell" on Hamas if the Palestinian militant group failed to release all captives by Saturday.

In a statement, Smotrich urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "inform Hamas unequivocally: Either all the hostages are released by Saturday, no more phases, no more games, or we open the gates of hell on them".

Israel threatened on Tuesday to resume "intense fighting" in Gaza if no captives were released this weekend, echoing a warning from US President Donald Trump that has strained the fragile truce deal.

Trump, who has taken credit for securing the agreement that went into effect last month, said that "hell" would break out if Hamas failed to release "all" Israeli captives by Saturday.

As he was hosting Jordan's King Abdullah II at the White House on Tuesday, Trump was asked whether his deadline still held, and said "Yes".

President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would not personally develop property in Gaza, as he pushes for the United States to take control of the Palestinian territory.

Trump spoke during talks at the White House with Jordan's King Abdullah II who is leading opposition from Arab nations to the US president's takeover plan.

Israel's military said it would increase reinforcements in the Gaza area after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier threatened to resume "intense fighting" if Israeli captives are not returned by Saturday.

"It was decided to increase reinforcements with additional troops, including reservists", the military said in a statement on Tuesday, adding the move was "carried out in preparation for various scenarios."

Jordan's King Abdullah II on Tuesday told US President Donald Trump that his country was ready to take in some 2,000 sick children from war-torn Gaza.

The Jordanian king spoke at the White House, where Trump was pushing his idea of removing all Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and finding them homes in Jordan and Egypt, then turning their territory into a high-end "riviera."

US President Donald Trump responded with confidence when asked about Israel’s plan to annex the occupied West Bank, stating, “That’s going to work out.”

The comments followed his meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House.

Since last week, Trump has reiterated his intention to forcibly relocate 2.3 million Palestinians from Gaza and redevelop the war-torn region.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II has been welcomed by US President Trump at the White House in Washington, DC.

We’ll keep you updated with more details from their discussions as they unfold.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner during his visit to Washington last week, according to Axios.

The two discussed various issues, including US President Donald Trump’s controversial plan to take control of the Gaza Strip, with senior officials familiar with the meeting confirming the topic.

Kushner, married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, was reportedly a key architect of the plan and helped draft the announcement made by the president alongside Netanyahu at a White House press briefing.

Last year, Kushner hinted at the plan, which proposes emptying the Strip of its residents and transforming it into "the Riviera of the Middle East," during a speech at Harvard.

"Gaza’s waterfront property could be very valuable, if people focused on building livelihoods," he said.

"It’s a bit of an unfortunate situation, but from Israel’s perspective, I’d do my best to move the people out and clean it up. However, I don’t think Israel has stated that they don’t want the people to return afterward."

The Al-Haq human rights organisation reports that major Israeli military operations are continuing across Tulkarem, Jenin, Far’a, and other areas on the 22nd day of large-scale attacks in the occupied West Bank.

In Jenin, the organisation states that Israeli forces have extended their destruction beyond the refugee camp, with systematic bulldozing of infrastructure and the destruction of both public and private property in the city’s eastern neighbourhood since early this morning.

At least 33 Palestinians, including four children, have been killed in Israeli attacks across the West Bank in the past three weeks, with more than 40,000 people forcibly displaced.

🚨UPDATE: DAY 22 OF ISRAELI MILITARY ATTACK ON THE WEST BANK
On 9 Feb, the IOF expanded its attack to a 4th refugee camp -Nur Shams in Tulkarem.
🔴As in Jenin, Tulkarem & Al-Far’a camps, the IOF is destroying infrastructure & homes, & forcibly displacing Palestinians en masse /1

— Al-Haq الحق (@alhaq_org) February 11, 2025

Ahmad and Mahmoud Muna, owners of the renowned Educational Bookshop in occupied East Jerusalem, have been freed after their arrest by Israeli police, Palestinian media outlet Arab 48 reports.

The two were detained following a raid in which authorities claimed certain books, including a children’s colouring book, incited "terrorism."

A court has placed them under house arrest for five days and barred them from returning to their bookstore for 20 days, their lawyer Nasser Awda said.

An Israeli official says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the army to beef up troops in and around the Gaza Strip after Hamas threatened to call off a scheduled hostage release on Saturday.

The official said Netanyahu also ordered officials “to prepare for every scenario if Hamas doesn’t release our hostages this 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.

Israeli troops have destroyed another Palestinian home in the besieged Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

According to local Palestinian media, the two-storey house belonged to the family of a Palestinian fighter killed by Israeli forces in July.

Since the Gaza ceasefire began, the Israeli military has demolished or set fire to dozens of homes across the northern West Bank.

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis, who control most of western Yemen including the capital, are ready to launch attacks on Israel if it resumes attacks on Gaza and does not commit to the ceasefire deal, the group's leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi said in a televised speech on Tuesday.

The Houthis had attacked Israeli and other vessels in the Red Sea, disturbing global shipping lanes, in what they said were acts of solidarity with Gaza's Palestinians during Israel's war with Hamas.

Israeli authorities are preventing additional medical evacuations through the Rafah crossing, including patients who had already received security clearance, the Gaza Health Ministry has reported, according to Al Jazeera.

"Among today’s list of patients is a 16-year-old child with cancer who was refused travel, and the companion of another cancer patient was also denied passage," the ministry stated.

While under 150 people were scheduled for medical evacuation as part of the ceasefire agreement, only 53 will be allowed to leave today, it added.

Despite an Israeli ban on UNRWA operations in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem, the agency has confirmed it is continuing to deliver humanitarian aid "at full scale" in Gaza.

With 7,000 staff members deployed, UNRWA is providing food assistance to 1.2 million Palestinians in the enclave and conducting thousands of daily health assessments.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini emphasised the need for continued support for the agency, stating, "UNRWA must be supported to continue as a key implementer of the fragile ceasefire deal."

“UNRWA teams are delivering at full scale in Gaza, setting an example of humanitarian service to people overwhelmed by 15 months of constant bombardment and forced displacement.

UNRWA has
-7,000 dedicated staff members on the ground, trusted by the communities we serve
-reached… pic.twitter.com/CLWtcNHy7J

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) February 11, 2025

The Ministry of Interior in Gaza has announced the arrest of five individuals suspected of attacking aid trucks in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood.

In a statement, the ministry urged residents to prioritise the public interest and refrain from targeting aid convoys, warning that police would take strict action against violators.

Prior to the ceasefire, looting and assaults on aid trucks had surged in northern Gaza due to the Israeli offensive, while Israeli airstrikes repeatedly targeted police positions, killing several law enforcement officers.

UN humanitarian officials said on Tuesday aid flows into Gaza had increased significantly since a ceasefire deal took effect on January 19, including for items such as tents that had previously faced Israeli restrictions.

It said that such alleged violations included stopping humanitarian aid from entering Gaza as stipulated in the deal, such as 60,000 mobile houses and 200,000 tents as well as heavy machinery to remove rubble and fuel.

When asked about current aid deliveries into Gaza, UN humanitarian office (OCHA) spokesperson Jens Laerke told a Geneva press briefing: "We have been able to scale up humanitarian operations significantly with food, medical and shelter supplies and other aid during the ceasefire period."

Earlier this month, aid officials said there were impediments to importing some items like shelter equipment which Israel said had the potential for "dual use" - civilian or military. Palestinians have been appealing for billions of dollars in emergency aid, including for units to house people made homeless by Israeli airstrikes and bombardment.

Israel denies allegations that it has stopped certain supplies including tent poles from entering Gaza on aid trucks.

COGAT, the Israeli military agency overseeing the aid deliveries into Gaza, said in a statement sent to Reuters that more than 100,000 tents had entered the coastal enclave since the ceasefire went into effect.

When asked if "dual use" restrictions imposed by Israel are still in place, Laerke deferred to the Israeli authorities.

Edem Wosornu, director of OCHA's Operations and Advocacy division, said that although aid supplies had improved since the ceasefire, they fell short of the needs on the ground.

"We can never match the needs right now. Gaza is completely devastated, infrastructure is not where it should be. We will try our best. The trucks are but a drop in the ocean," she told a gathering of Geneva-based diplomats.

Israeli forces have opened fire on Palestinians in multiple areas of Rafah, killing a young man and seriously injuring another, according to the Wafa news agency.

The attacks occurred in Rafah’s Saudi and Tal as-Sultan neighbourhoods, Wafa reported.

The Health Ministry in Gaza has released an updated report on casualties resulting from Israel’s ongoing assault on the territory. 

According to the statement, 11 more deaths were recorded in the past 24 hours- three newly killed individuals and eight bodies recovered- while hospitals received 10 additional wounded patients. 

This update brings the official death toll from Israeli attacks since 7 October to at least 48,219, with 111,665 people injured, the ministry confirmed. 

Many victims remain trapped beneath the rubble, while the Government Media Office in Gaza estimates the total number of fatalities at 61,709, citing thousands of missing persons now presumed dead.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi urged on Tuesday the reconstruction of Gaza "without displacing Palestinians", after US President Donald Trump said he could "conceivably" halt aid to Egypt and Jordan if they refuse to take in Palestinians from Gaza.

During a phone call with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Sisi "stressed the necessity of starting the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip... without displacing Palestinians and in a way that ensures the preservation of their rights... to live on their land".

The Egyptian president also said that the establishment of a Palestinian state is "the only guarantee for achieving lasting peace" in the region, according to a statement from his office.

Trump has proposed the US taking over Gaza and clearing Palestinians out, envisioning rebuilding the devastated territory into the "Riviera of the Middle East" after resettling Palestinians elsewhere, namely Egypt and Jordan.

The US president's remarks have sparked global backlash and Arab countries have condemned the proposal, insisting on a two-state solution with an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.

On Monday, Egypt's foreign ministry rejected "any compromise" that would infringe on Palestinians' rights, including their right to "remaining on the land", in a statement issued shortly after Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty met with his US counterpart Marco Rubio in Washington.

Last week, Abdelatty spoke with regional counterparts, including in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, in a bid to shore up opposition to any forced displacement of Palestinians from their land.

Syria's new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, said in remarks broadcast on Monday he believes US President Donald Trump's plan to resettle Palestinians from Gaza and take over the Strip "is a serious crime that will ultimately fail".

Trump had said the US would take over the war-ravaged Gaza Strip and develop it economically after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere. He said Palestinians would not have the right of return to Gaza under his proposal.

In an interview with a UK podcast, Sharaa, whose group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, was once an affiliate of al Qaeda, said Trump's proposal would not succeed.

"I believe no power can drive people from their land. Many countries have tried to do it and they have all failed, especially during the recent war in Gaza over the past year and a half," he said.

Sharaa stressed that it would be neither 'wise nor morally or politically right' for Trump to lead an effort to force Palestinians out of their land.

"Over 80 years of this conflict, all attempts to displace them have failed; those who left have regretted their decision. The Palestinian lesson that every generation has learned is the importance of holding on to their land," he added.

Egypt, Jordan and other Arab nations have strongly opposed any attempt to push Palestinians over the border.

The UN chief called on Hamas Tuesday to proceed with planned releases of Israeli hostages, after the Palestinian group threatened to postpone further captives exchanges agreed under a fragile Gaza ceasefire.

"We must avoid at all costs resumption of hostilities in Gaza that would lead to immense tragedy," Antonio Guterres said on X, appealing "to Hamas to proceed with the planned liberation of hostages".

We must avoid at all costs resumption of hostilities in Gaza that would lead to immense tragedy.

I appeal to Hamas to proceed with the planned liberation of hostages.

Both sides must fully abide by their commitments in the ceasefire agreement & resume serious negotiations.

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) February 11, 2025

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Hamas to continue with the planned release of hostages on Tuesday, a day after the Palestinian group announced its intention to halt the exchange.

"We must avoid at all costs the resumption of hostilities in Gaza that would lead to an immense tragedy," he said in a statement.

Hamas on Monday announced it would stop releasing Israeli hostages until further notice over what it called Israeli violations of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza, raising the risk of reigniting the conflict.

Hamas was to release more Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and other Palestinians held in Israeli detention as had happened over the past three weeks.

An Israeli delegation returned from Doha for talks on the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Monday, amid growing doubts over the Egyptian and Qatari-brokered process to end the war in Gaza.

"Both sides must fully abide by their commitments in the ceasefire agreement and resume negotiations in Doha for the second phase", Guterres added.

An elderly Israeli man taken hostage by Hamas militants on October 7, 2023, has been declared dead, a statement from his kibbutz said on Tuesday.

"With heavy hearts, we, the members of the kibbutz, received the news this morning about the murder of our dear friend, Shlomo Mansour, 86 years old, who was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Kissufim during the Hamas terror attack on October 7, 2023," the community said of the Iraqi-born Israeli.

The Israeli military said in a statement on Tuesday that the "decision to confirm his death was based on intelligence gathered in recent months".

Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a post on X that Mansour had been "murdered in captivity" by Hamas on October 7.

One of the founders of Kibbutz Kissufim, Mansour was kidnapped from a henhouse during Hamas's attack on southern Israel.

His wife Mazal Mansour, with whom he lived for 60 years, managed to escape the attack. The couple have five children and 12 grandchildren.

Hamas has denounced a decision by the Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas to "cancel paying the financial allocations for families of prisoners, martyrs and those injured, and abandon their national cause".

In a Telegram statement yesterday it described "this behaviour as a non-patriotic and representing an abandonment of one of the established features [of Palestinian nationhood]".

The group called for the decision to be rescinded immediately and warned the PA "not to submit to pressures by the Zionist occupation and the US administration".

Palestinian news agency Wafa said Abbas's decision to repeal the law on paying these allocations "came in the context of boosting the status of the State of Palestine and its legal position at the UN and various international organisations, by achieving more international recognition and full membership at the UN".

Hamas announced yesterday that the release of Israeli hostages would be suspended indefinitely.

The spokesman for Hamas's military wing - the Izz-al-Din al-Qassam Brigades - Abu Ubaida, said that the group had observed violations of the agreement by Israel over the past three weeks.

The issues include delays in allowing displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza and failing to permit humanitarian aid deliveries.

As a result, he declared that the release of hostages scheduled for 15 February would be "postponed until further notice".

The statement reiterated Hamas's commitment to the ceasefire, provided that Israel upheld its obligations.

The ceasefire, which ended 15 months of fighting in the Gaza war, was announced in mid-January and brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the US.

A senior Hamas leader said Tuesday that US President Donald Trump's warning for the group to immediately release all Israeli hostages "further complicates matters" relating to the fragile Gaza truce.

"Trump must remember that there is an agreement that must be respected by both parties and this is the only way to return the prisoners (hostages)," Sami Abu Zuhri told news agency AFP.

"The language of threats has no value and further complicates matters," he added.

The ceasefire, in place since January 19, largely halted more than 15 months of fighting in Gaza and saw five groups of Israeli hostages freed in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.

But tensions spiked last month after Trump proposed taking over Gaza and removing its more than two million inhabitants.

He further ramped up pressure on Monday, saying he would call for an end to the ceasefire if all Israeli hostages were not freed by noon on Saturday.

"As far as I'm concerned, if all of the hostages aren't returned by Saturday 12 o'clock -- I think it's an appropriate time -- I would say cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out," Trump told reporters at the White House.