Relentless strikes pound Gaza as US, Iran prepare for crunch talks

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France's Foreign Minister was quoted by Al-Jazeera as saying that he supports "all diplomatic efforts aimed at finding a negotiated solution that respects our security interests and the most fundamental rights of the Iranian people." 

Basic services at a camp in northeast Syria holding thousands of women and children linked to the Islamic State group are returning to normal after government forces captured the facility from Kurdish fighters, a United Nations official said on Thursday.

Forces of Syria's central government captured al-Hol camp on 21 January during a weekslong offensive against the Kurdish-led and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, that had been running the camp near the border with Iraq for a decade. A ceasefire deal has since ended the fighting.

Celine Schmitt, a spokesperson for the UN refugees agency told The Associated Press that the interruption of services occurred for two days during the fighting around the camp.

She said a UNHCR team visited the recaptured came to establish "very quickly the delivery of basic services, humanitarian services," including access to health centers. Schmitt said that as of 23 January, they were able to deliver bread and water inside the camp.

Schmitt, speaking in Damascus, said the situation at al-Hol camp has been calm and some humanitarian actors have also been distributing food parcels. She said that government has named a new administrator for the camp.

Israeli settler violence and harassment in the occupied West Bank displaced nearly 700 Palestinians in January, the UN said Thursday, the highest rate since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023.

At least 694 Palestinians were forcefully driven from their homes last month, according to figures from the UN's humanitarian agency OCHA, which compiles data from various United Nations agencies.

The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said in late January that settler violence has become a key driver of forced displacement in the West Bank.

January's displacement numbers were particularly high in part due to the displacement of an entire herding community in the Jordan Valley, Ras Ein al-Auja, whose 130 families left after months of harassment.

"What is happening today is the complete collapse of the community as a result of the settlers' continuous and repeated attacks, day and night, for the past two years," Farhan Jahaleen, a Bedouin resident, told AFP at the time.

US officials have arrived in Doha, Qatar, ready for negotiations with Iran in Oman on Friday, according to Al Jazeera, which named the officials as Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff.

Israel has issued new bans for Palestinians entering the al-Aqsa mosque compound, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa, which said that one-week bans were given to three former detainees from the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Al-Issawiya. 

Jerusalem's Sharia judge, Iyad Al-Abbasi, and two others were also banned. 

The one-week-bans can be extended for several months. 

The Israeli military is using artillery shelling to target areas west of Rafah in the soutern Gaza Strip, according to Shehab news agency.

There are no words on possible injuries.

Israeli forces are reported to have fired tear gas at homes in the West Bank town of al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah, according to Palestinian media.

There have not been reports of injuries so far.

Israel's chief of the air force, Major General Tomer Bar, said that the military is continuing to "strengthen preparedness and capabilities in both defence and offence," in comments made to a reserve Iron Dome battery in northern Israel, according to the Times of Israel. 

The comments come amid regional tension with Iran, which is set to be addressed through US and Iranian negotiations in Oman on Friday.

Gaza's Ministry of Health has announced that in the last 24 hours, Israel has killed 27 Palestinians and wounded a further 18.

The ministry added that the total number of Palestinians killed since the ceasefire began is now at 574.

Iran has told Hezbollah that it is prepared against foreign threats to the country, according to the Iranian news agency IRNA.

"Iran, as the main pillar of the resistance, with no intention of aggression towards others, is fully prepared to stand against any threat and foreign enemy, especially the United States and Israel," Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in a letter to Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Thursday that concerns about a further escalation in the conflict with Iran have characterised his talks during a trip to the Gulf region.

"In all my conversations yesterday and today, great concern has been expressed about a further escalation in the conflict with Iran," he said during a press conference in Doha.

He called on Iran to end what he called an aggression and enter into talks, saying Germany would do everything it can to de-escalate the situation and work towards stability in the region.

Iran's revolutionary guards have detained two vessels in the Gulf carrying over 1 million liters of smuggled fuel, state media reported on Thursday, adding that the vessels' crews comprising 15 foreigners were referred to judicial authorities.

In an interview with Journalist Megyn Kelly, US Vice President JD Vance said that negotiations with Iran were difficult because "you can't even talk to the person who's in charge of the country", adding that "the president doesn't really matter much in practice. It seems the foreign minister talks to the Leader, and that's essentially the person we've been dealing with."

The claim is a reference to Trump's direct calls with world leaders, which stand in contrast to negotiations with Iran set for Friday, which will be between US special representative Steve Witkoff and Iranian FM Abbas Araghchi.

Here's how Iran's government is structured, and how power is distributed in the system.

President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey is doing its utmost to prevent US-Iran tensions dragging the region into new conflict and chaos, and he urged future potential talks between the American and Iranian leaders, his office said on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters on a return flight from Egypt, Erdogan praised diplomatic efforts by the sides and said leaders' level talks would be helpful after lower-level negotiations, according to a transcript of his comments shared by his office.

The Rafah border crossing has opened in both directions, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa, with the agency reporting that the Palestinian Red Crescent Society is preparing for the fourth batch of medical evacuees out of the enclave. 

A Palestinian man has died from wounds sustained in an Israeli airstrike, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa, which added that the man had been wounded several months ago in the city of Khan Younis.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said Iran hopes that "mature and honourable political leadership will return to Germany," in comments made in response to Chancellor Friedrich Merz's comments that his country was willing to increase pressure on Iran and engage in talks on the nuclear programme.

Araghchi said that "we Iranians have unfortunately been faced with several other examples of Merz's political naivety and distasteful character," citing Germany's support for Israel's actions during the 12-day-war in June 2025.

"Merz has also publicly daydreamed about Iran supposedly being weeks away from collapse," he added.

Germany was once the engine of Europe’s progress; now it has turned into an engine of regression.

Last September in New York, at Merz’s insistence, the E3 put an end to their role in nuclear negotiations by pursuing the return of UN sanctions on Iran. Now, Merz is begging to be… https://t.co/Stpjb9agnv

— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) February 5, 2026

Hamas has said that Israel is deliberately sabotaging the Gaza ceasefire deal as Israeli strikes across the besieged enclave killed at least 24 people, including children.

The group said in a Telegram statement late on Wednesday that the strikes had revealed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "hidden intentions to disrupt the implementation of the second phase of the ceasefire agreement, especially the opening of the Rafah crossing".

The Israeli army alleged that the strikes were in response to alleged "violations of the ceasefire agreement", claiming that Hamas fire had wounded an Israeli officer.

Hamas denied the accusation as "a false pretext to justify the continued killing and aggression against our people".