Kushner arrives in Israel for talks with Netanyahu as Gaza ceasefire enters second month

A US official visiting Lebanon called on its authorities Monday to end "the malign influence of Iran through Hezbollah", adding that his country was determined to cut off Tehran's funding of the group.

"We think the key for the Lebanese people getting their country back is ending the malign influence of Iran through Hezbollah in Lebanon," deputy director for counter-terrorism John Hurley told journalists.

The US "administration is very serious about cutting off Iran's funding" to Hezbollah, he added.

Turkey is working with the United States and Arab mediators to secure safe passage for Hamas fighters who are holed up in tunnels in the Israel-controlled area of Gaza, Reuters reported- citing a Palestinian source, a Hamas official and Turkish officials.

The fate of about 200 fighters has complicated efforts to shift Gaza ceasefire talks, being conducted between Israel and the Palestinians group, to the next phase that aims to secure a permanent end to the two-year-old war.

A Palestinian source close to the mediation effort told Reuters Turkey was involved in mediation over the fate of the fighters, working alongside Egypt, Qatar and the United States.

Two Turkish officials, including the spokesperson for President Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AK Party, confirmed Turkey was mediating in talks over the fate of 200 Palestinians, without giving details.

Last week, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said resolving the standoff would be a test case for future steps in the wider ceasefire plan. He said it could be resolved by providing them with safe passage to Hamas-controlled areas of Gaza.

A Hamas official, who asked not to be identified, said Turkey was a mediator but did not give details about the negotiations, saying they covered a sensitive security issue.

The Israeli Prime Minister's Office did not comment on Turkey's role.

Last week, Reuters also reported that Hamas fighters trapped in the Israeli-held Rafah area of Gaza were ready to surrender their arms in exchange for passage to other areas of Gaza.

Hamas has not confirmed the number of trapped fighters but has previously demanded that they be allowed to go to areas controlled by the group. Israel has so far resisted this.

Turkey, a fierce critic of Israel's military campaign in Gaza and with close ties to Palestinian group, was a signatory to the U.S.-backed Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel would strongly enforce its ceasefire agreements in Lebanon and Gaza, vowing that "whoever seeks to harm us, we harm them".

"We are determined to enforce with an iron fist the ceasefire agreements where they exist against those who seek our destruction, and you can see what happens every day in Lebanon," Netanyahu told lawmakers in parliament.

Israel said on Monday it had killed 15 Hezbollah members since the start of November, as it launched further strikes on its northern neighbour targeting the group.

The Israeli military launched multiple attacks in Lebanon on Monday, hitting the south and east of the country, while at least one person was killed according to the Lebanese health ministry.

The military said it had killed Samir Ali Faqih, whom it accused of smuggling weapons for Hezbollah.

It said it had killed two more people on Sunday and that "these terrorists are in addition to the 12 Hezbollah terrorists eliminated since the beginning of the month".

Israel has intensified its strikes on Lebanon, accusing the Iran-backed Hezbollah group of rearming, nearly a year into a ceasefire that brought an end to their most recent war.

On Monday, the Israeli military said it struck the Bekaa area in eastern Lebanon and the Nabatiyeh area of southern Lebanon.

Any decisions on Israel's policies on Gaza are being made in collaboration with the Trump administration, the Israeli government spokesperson said on Monday.

U.S. President Donald Trump's influential son-in-law, Jared Kushner and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed disarming Hamas, demilitarizing Gaza and ensuring Hamas has no role in Gaza ever again, the spokesperson added.

Israeli settlers have caused damage to several graves in the Bab al-Rahma cemetery, adjacent to the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Palestinian news agency Wafa is reporting.

The cemetery has come under several Israeli settler attacks over the years and has been subject to excavation by Israeli authorities.

US envoy Jared Kushner and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Jerusalem on Monday and discussed the first and second phase of the US-brokered ceasefire deal in Gaza.

"Together the two discussed phase one which we are currently still in... and the future of phase two of this plan, which includes the disarming of Hamas, demilitarising Gaza and ensuring Hamas will have no role in the future of Gaza ever again," spokeswoman for the prime minister's office, Shosh Bedrosian, told journalists.

"Phase two also includes the establishment of the international stabilisation force and the details of which of course together are being discussed," she added.

The Gaza Health Ministry said that only 91 of the 315 bodies returned by Israel under the ceasefire agreement have been identified due to their poor condition.

According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, most of the bodies showed signs of torture.

The ministry said it had buried the remains of 38 Palestinians in the Cemetery for the Unknown after it “became impossible to identify them”.

Efforts to identify the bodies have been severely hampered by the lack of testing equipment caused by the Israeli blockade and the destruction of laboratories in Gaza.

Hamas officials and mediators are holding talks “regarding hundreds of the group’s fighters trapped in underground tunnels in Rafah”, The New Arab’s Arabic-language sister site al-Araby al-Jadeed has reported.

According to al-Araby al-Jadeed, Palestinian sources said the discussions aim to find a “solution that guarantees that the fighters are allowed to remain in Gaza”, adding that “the option to deport them overseas is not on the table at the moment”.

Israeli forces have prevented Palestinian teachers from reaching schools in the Jordan Valley by blocking passage through the Hamra and Tayasir military checkpoints, according to the Wafa news agency.

Azmi Balawneh, director of education for the Tubas governorate, said dozens of teachers were forced to wait for hours as Israeli forces kept both checkpoints closed.

There are around 200 fighters in the tunnels under Rafah in the Gaza zone still controlled by Israel's military, with Hamas demanding they be allowed to depart - something Israel has so far resisted.

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff last week described efforts to resolve the standoff by giving the fighters safe passage back into Hamas-controlled Gaza areas in return for disarming, as a test case for future steps in the wider ceasefire plan.

News agency Reuters, citing a Palestinian source, mediators had stepped up their efforts to resolve the dispute, believing any armed attempt to force their surrender could risk the entire ceasefire.

Netanyahu's office issued a photograph of him meeting Kushner on Monday. The two were expected to discuss the issue of the fighters as well as further steps in the ceasefire, two senior Israeli officials told Reuters.

Those steps will require agreement on a transitional governing body for Gaza without Hamas involvement, the formation of an international stabilisation force and the setting of the terms of its involvement, Hamas disarmament and reconstruction.

Israel has carried out another drone attack in southern Lebanon, this time targeting open land near the town of al-Hamira, Al Jazeera English reported.

No injuries have been reported so far.

Health authorities in the Gaza Strip have launched a vaccination campaign for children under three, aiming to prevent disease outbreaks after two years of disrupted immunisation caused by the war.

In a statement, Gaza’s health authorities said the campaign is taking place in 150 health centres across the strip, in coordination with the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), with support from UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO).

The 10-day campaign will run in three phases, each separated by a month, to reach children who missed routine vaccinations since the war began in October 2023.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said it had received on Monday the bodies of 15 Palestinian prisoners under the US-brokered ceasefire exchange deal.

"The ministry of health announces the receipt of 15 bodies of martyrs released today by the Israeli occupation through the Red Cross, bringing the total number of bodies received to 315" under the hostage-prisoner exchange deal, the ministry said.

They were returned in exchange for the remains of Israeli officer Lieutenant Hadar Goldin handed back to Israel the day before. Goldin was killed in the 2014 Gaza war.

US envoy Jared Kushner held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Monday, the premier's office said, without providing further details.

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is currently meeting in his office in Jerusalem with US President (Donald) Trump's special envoy and son-in-law, Jared Kushner," Netanyahu's office said.

Israeli media reports said that Kushner's visit came as Washington presses efforts to ensure that the US-brokered ceasefire in Gaza holds.

Iran on Monday dismissed accusations by the United States that Tehran had attempted to kill the Israeli ambassador in Mexico, describing the claim as "absurd".

"We found this claim very ridiculous and absurd," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei during a weekly press briefing, adding that it was part of an attempt "to destroy Iran's friendly relations with other countries".

Following Washington's accusation on Friday of the assassination attempt, Israel's foreign ministry thanked Mexican authorities "for thwarting a terrorist network directed by Iran".

But Mexico's foreign ministry later said it had "received no information" on the alleged plot, and Iran's embassy in Mexico called it "a great big lie".

A US official said Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force initiated the plot in late 2024 and that it was disrupted earlier this year.

The alleged plot involved recruiting operatives through Iran's embassy in Venezuela, whose leftist president, Nicolas Maduro, maintains a tactical alliance with Tehran.

"The entire matter was fabricated," Baqaei said on Monday.

French President Emmanuel Macron will host Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday, Macron's office said in a statement.

France officially recognized a Palestinian state in September.

The Knesset is set to hold a first reading on Monday of a bill proposing the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners, Israel Hayom reported.

The legislation, backed by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, was approved by the Knesset’s National Security Committee on 3 November, sparking widespread condemnation from human rights organisations.

If passed, the law would allow Israeli courts to impose the death penalty on Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis on “nationalistic grounds”.

The proposed legislation would not apply to Israelis who kill Palestinians under similar circumstances.

The Israeli army announced on Sunday that it will launch extensive military exercises across the West Bank and the Jordan Valley, along the border with Jordan, starting Monday morning.

In a statement shared on Telegram, the army said the drills will involve the intensive movement of troops and military vehicles in the area.

The UAE is unlikely to join a proposed international stabilisation force for Gaza unless a clear political and operational plan is in place, according to Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the UAE president.

Gargash said the UAE “does not yet see a clear framework for the stabilisation force and, under these circumstances, will probably not participate”, adding that the country “will continue to support all political efforts towards peace and remain at the forefront of humanitarian aid”.

Last week, President Trump announced that an international force would be deployed to Gaza “very soon” under an agreement that secured a fragile ceasefire on 10 October.

One person has been killed in an Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency.

The attack reportedly targeted a car near the town of al-Bisariya.